Former Liverpool team-mates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have both been named on a list of 30 nominees for the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) Men’s Player of the Year award for 2021-22.
Mane, who joined German champions Bayern Munich last week, had the upper hand over Salah at international level in recent months, with Senegal beating Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations final in February before winning their 2022 World Cup play-off tie the month after.
The Senegalese is the last man to have been crowned Africa’s best, back in 2019 – when Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala won the women’s prize – since when the awards have been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
At club level, Mane and Salah, both 30, won the FA Cup and League Cup in England last season but narrowly missed out on the Premier League title before the Reds lost 1-0 to Real Madrid in the European Champions League final.
Salah, who has claimed the prize twice, ended the club season with a share of the Premier League Golden Boot, along with Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea striker Son Heung-min.
The Egyptian won both the Player of the Season awards from the Football Writers’ Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association.
Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, a Premier League winner with Manchester City, is also prominent on a list where two of Africa’s traditionally weaker nations, The Gambia and Comoros, have rare representation – in the shape of Musa Barrow and Youssouf M’Changama – after fine Nations Cup debuts.
African champions Senegal have the most nominees on Caf’s list with four others joining Mane – Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Leicester City midfielder Nampalys Mendy, Saliou Ciss and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Also named are Ivorian Serie A winner Franck Kessie, PSG’s Moroccan Achraf Hakimi and Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar, who became the first player to score eight goals at a single Nations Cup in over half a century.
Caf also released its lists for several other men’s categories, including Young Player and Coach of the Year.
The nominees for the women’s categories will be announced in due course, with the awards ceremony being held on 21 July – shortly before the end of the looming Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco – in the latter’s capital Rabat.
The lists, covering performances from September 2021 until June this year, were decided upon by a panel of Caf legends, technical experts and journalists.
The winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of Caf’s technical committee, media professionals and head coaches and captains of member associations and clubs involved in the group stages of continental competitions.
Full list of nominees (in alphabetic order by member association):
Player of the Year (Men)
- Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)
- Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Aston Villa)
- Blati Toure (Burkina Faso & Pyramids)
- Edmund Tapsoba (Burkina Faso & Bayer Leverkusen)
- Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon & Napoli)
- Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Lyon)
- Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon & Al Nassr)
- Youssouf M’Changama (Comoros & Guingamp)
- Franck Kessie (Ivory Coast & AC Milan)
- Sebastien Haller (Ivory Coast & Ajax)
- Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt & Al Ahly)
- Mohamed Elneny (Egypt & Arsenal)
- Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
- Mohamed El Shenawy (Egypt & Al Ahly)
- Musa Barrow (The Gambia & Bologna)
- Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool)
- Aliou Dieng (Mali & Al Ahly)
- Hamari Traore (Mali & Rennes)
- Yves Bissouma (Mali & Tottenham Hotspur)
- Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris St-Germain)
- Sofiane Boufal (Morocco & Angers)
- Yahya Jabrane (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
- Yassine Bounou (Morocco & Sevilla)
- Moses Simon (Nigeria & Nantes)
- Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea)
- Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)
- Nampalys Mendy (Senegal & Leicester City)
- Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich)
- Saliou Ciss (Senegal & Nancy)
- Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)
Interclub Player of the Year (Men)
- Riad Benayad (ES Setif)
- Tiago Azulao (Petro Atletico)
- Karim Konate (ASEC Mimomas)
- Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly)
- Aliou Dieng (Al Ahly)
- Mohamed Shenawy (Al Ahly)
- Mohamed Sherif (Al Ahly)
- Percy Tau (Al Ahly)
- Morlaye Sylla (Horoya)
- Achraf Dari (Wydad Athletic Club)
- Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club)
- Zouhair El Moutaraji (Wydad Athletic Club)
- Mouhcine Moutouali (Raja Club Athletic)
- Issoufou Dayo (RS Berkane)
- Youssou El Fahli (RS Berkane)
- Victorien Adebayor (Niger & Union Sportive Gendarmerie Nationale)
- Peter Shalulile (Mamelodi Sundowns)
- Bandile Shandu (Orlando Pirates)
- Thembinkosi Lorch (Orlando Pirates)
- Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Esperance Sportive de Tunis)
Young Player of the Year (Men)
- Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso & Lorient)
- Karim Konate (Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg)
- Jesus Owono (Equatorial Guinea & Alaves)
- James Gomez (The Gambia & AC Horsens)
- Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana & Rennes)
- Ilaix Moriba Kourouma (Guinea & Valencia)
- El Bilal Toure (Mali & Reims)
- Akinkunmi Amoo (Nigeria & FC Copenhagen)
- Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz)
- Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United)
Coach of the Year (Men)
- Kamou Malo (Burkina Faso)
- Amir Abdou (Comoros)
- Carlos Quieroz (Egypt)
- Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly)
- Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia)
- Florent Ibenge (RS Berkane)
- Vahid Halilhodzic (Morocco)
- Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club)
- Aliou Cisse (Senegal)
- Mandla Ncikazi (Orlando Pirates)
National Team of the Year (Men)
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Comoros
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- The Gambia
- Mali
- Morocco
- Senegal
- Tunisia
Club of the Year (Men)
- ES Setif (Algeria)
- Petro Atletico (Angola)
- TP Mazembe (DR Congo)
- Al Ahly (Egypt)
- Al Ahly Tripoli (Libya)
- Al Ittihad (Libya)
- Raja Club Athletic (Morocco)
- RS Berkane (Morocco)
- Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)
- Orlando Pirates (South Africa)
