The finest African player of the year award has been given to Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane .
Nigerian Asisat Oshoala won the women’s division.
Mane is the first player from Bayern Munich to win the African Player of the Year award.
The Senegal side that defeated Salah-captained Egypt in the 2021/2022 Africa Cup of Nations final
and a 2022 World Cup play-off had Mane as a significant player.
The Teranga Lions prevailed in penalty shootouts in both the Cameroon match that decided the African championship
and the Senegal match that eliminated Qatar.
Salah‘s attempt in the play-off was unexpectedly wide,
and Mane scored in each shootout while the final result was known before Salah could take it.
Simba United of Tanzania’s Pape Ousmane Sakho won the prize for the best goal.
Desire Ellis, head coach of the South African women’s national team Banyana Banyana,
won the title of best female coach of the year.
Aliou Cisse of Senegal was named the year’s top male coach.
Salah won the prize in 2017 and 2018,
and Mane’s triumph the following year brought the total number of Liverpool winners to four. El Hadji Diouf
a different Senegalese,
took first place in the 2002 election.
Last month,
the 30-year-old quit the Premier League team after agreeing to a three-year contract with Bayern Munich.
Mane remarked, “I am truly honoured and overjoyed to get this award again.
“Thanks to my coaches,
my teammates on the club and national teams, and those friends who supported me through the tough times,”
Mane made the quick trip across the Atlantic to receive the accolade in the Moroccan capital
after scoring a penalty for his new team in a 6-2 preseason victory over DC United on Wednesday.
Following the cancellation of the previous two editions due to the coronavirus pandemic,
Mane won the continental player of the year award for the second consecutive year.
He triumphed over Edouard Mendy, a goalkeeper for Chelsea, and former Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah of Egypt.
Last season, Mane and Salah were instrumental in helping Liverpool win the FA Cup,
English League Cup, and finish second in the Premier League and Champions League.
Now then, Mane chose to depart,
with Bayern allegedly paying an initial 32 million euros ($32.5 million) that may increase to 41 million euros.
Salah has since signed a new contract at Anfield.
When Mane made his first move in Europe in 2012,
Red Bull Salzburg paid Metz four million euros as the transfer price.
After the Africa Cup of Nations final in Yaounde ended scoreless,
Mane’s fifth penalty kick in February gave Senegal a 4-2 shootout victory over Egypt and their first championship.
A month later, Mane defeated Egypt in a shootout to win the match,
this time in a World Cup play-off near Dakar following a 1-1 tie on the overall score.
match and missed his first Egyptian attempt in the play-off that gave Senegal a spot in the World Cup in Qatar this November.
Salah missed his opportunity to take a penalty in the Cup of Nations championship
Mane caught Metz’s eye after playing for the area’s second-tier club Gener ation Foot. He was born in a town around 250 miles (400 km) outside of Dakar.
After establishing himself at Salzburg, Mane moved on to Southampton,
where he accomplished accomplishments like scoring a record-breaking hat-trick
in the Premier League against Aston Villa in just 176 seconds.
The Senegalese joined Liverpool in the middle of 2016
and eventually formed a terrifying front three with Brazilian Roberto Firmino and Egyptian Salah.
“My only critique of Sadio is that maybe at times he is the only one not to know exactly how wonderful he is,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp stated as Mane moved to Bayern.
Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria beat off her countrywoman Perpetua Nkwocha to win the Women’s Player of the Year award for a record fifth time.
Due to an injury, the 27-year-old Barcelona attacker compelled to miss the current Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
At Thursday’s CAF awards, Sadio Mane defeated competition from former Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah and Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy to win the title of African Footballer of the Year for 2022.
The youngster from Bayern Munich, who was also named the continent’s best player in 2019, assisted Senegal in capturing their first Africa Cup of Nations championship in February by scoring the game-winning penalty to defeat Salah’s Egypt.
The forward won Player of the Tournament honours after tallying three goals throughout the Cameroon competition.
A month later, Mane helped Senegal secure qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar by helping them defeat the Pharaohs in another shootout.
In contrast, during his final season at Anfield, Mane scored 23 goals in all competitions as Liverpool won the EFL and FA Cups.
Mane appeared in 51 games during his lengthy 2021–22 season with the Reds, which was only surpassed by Jordan Henderson (57), Diogo Jota (55), and Allison (54).
The first to congratulate the 30-year-old was Oliver Kahn, chief executive of Mane’s new team, Bayern, who posted on Twitter: “We are overjoyed that Sadio Mane won.
“It is a great honour for our club as FC Bayern has never had an African Footballer of the Year among its ranks in its lengthy history.
He is now playing well for our team, and we have several important goals with him, which makes us very proud.
So, While Chelsea’s Mendy not selected as the continent’s finest player, he can take solace in the fact that Senegal won every accolade.
The Lions of Teranga awarded CAF’s team of the year, and midfielder Pape Matar Sarr won Young Player of the Year honours. Coach Aliou Cisse was named Coach of the Year.
The finest African player of the year award given to Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane.
So, Mane is the first player from Bayern Munich to win the African Player of the Year award.
The Senegal side that defeated Salah-captained Egypt in the 2021/2022 Africa Cup of Nations final and a 2022 World Cup play-off had Mane as a significant player.
Finally, The Teranga Lions prevailed in penalty shootouts in both the Cameroon match that decided the African championship and the Senegal match that eliminated Qatar.
