Salah, Mane, Mahrez, Haller: 10 candidates for African Player of the Year

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the award is being presented for the first time since 2019. Former Liverpool teammates Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have made the shortlist of 10 candidates for the Confederation of African Football’s award for the best player of the 2021/22 season.

The reason why no award has been given for the last three years is due to the coronavirus pandemic. CAF has also changed the qualifying period from the calendar year to the 2021/22 season.

Neither Salah nor Mané is a stranger to the prestigious award for Africa’s best player. Both have won it before, namely Salah twice (2017, 2018) and Mané once (2019).

Both have had a successful season in which Salah won the award for the Premier League’s best player of the season. Mané, on the other hand, beat his partner in the Africa Cup of Nations final, where he was also named Player of the Tournament.

Another favourite to win the overall title is Sebastien Haller of Ivory Coast. He has come a long way in the year since leaving West Ham for Ajax. He has scored 11 goals in just eight games in the Champions League. No wonder Borussia Dortmund chose him as a replacement for Haaland.

Who are the other nominees?

• Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Manchester City)
• Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon and Lyon)
• Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon and Al Nassr)
• Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool)
• Naby Keita (Guinea and Liverpool)
• Sebastien Haller (Ivory Coast and Borussia Dortmund/Ajax)
• Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and Paris St-Germain)
• Edouard Mendy (Senegal and Chelsea)
• Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal and Napoli)
• Sadio Mane (Senegal and Bayern Munich/Liverpool)

The winner will be decided by a jury made up of members of the CAF Technical Committee, journalists and coaches and captains of the 54 African national teams. The winner will be announced on 21 July when the winner will be announced at a gala event in Rabat, Morocco.

Source: CAF, Aljazeera