Senegal’s Sadio Mane has been deservedly named the African Footballer of the Year for the second time in his career.
The Bayern Munich forward beat out his former teammate Mohamed Salah and compatriot Eduard Mendy for the award.
Sadio Mane was named African Footballer of the Year in 2019 as well with the Confederation of African Football (CFA) not holding the honors the last two years and has now changed the criteria to recognizing accomplishments over the season rather than the calendar year.
The new rules boded well for Mane as he enjoyed a stellar season with both club and country.
Mane scored the decisive penalty against Egypt which delivered his country its first AFCON title and then six weeks later did the same to lead his country to the 2022 FIFA World Cup over the same opposition.
After getting the better of his then-teammate Salah, the two went on to guide Liverpool to wins in the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, and the Champions League final which they lost to Real Madrid.
Salah was the last man to win two consecutive African Footballer of Year awards having done so in 2017 and 2018 with Sadio Mane second on both occasions.
“I dedicate this award to the youth of Senegal. I’m very emotional and don’t have the words to express how I’m feeling,” Mane told the audience at the CAF awards in Rabat.
Meanwhile, Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria won the CAF women’s player of the year for a record fifth time with the 27-year-old Barcelona forward dedicating her award to her national team.
