Sadio Mane, a forward for Bayern Munich, has won the African Footballer of the Year award a second time.
At a ceremony on Thursday, Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich won the African Football of the Year award ahead of Mohamed Salah of Liverpool and Edouard Mendy of Chelsea.
The 30-year-old international from Senegal got the top honor on Thursday during an awards ceremony. Mane, who recently switched teams to Bayern this summer, took home the prize ahead of Edouard Mendy of Chelsea and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool.
Mane scored 23 goals for Liverpool last season, helping them win the FA Cup and EFL Cup. The Reds also made it to the Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Real Madrid, and they came in second place in the race for the Premier League championship by just one point to Manchester City.
Mane inspired Senegal to win at the global Africa Cup of Nations in February. After Salah’s Egypt lost the game on penalties, his nation won the championship on penalties.Mane outperformed Salah in the tournament with three goals, one more.
Bayern president Herbert Hainer congratulated Sadio Mane on being awarded Africa’s Player of the Year once more. He is a magnificent ambassador for his own Senegal, for all of football, as well as for FC Bayern and the entire Bundesliga. He is also an incredibly exceptional player.
Oliver Khan, CEO of Bayern, added: “The recognition of Sadio Mane makes us happy. In the long history of FC Bayern, an African Player of the Year has never been a member. Our group is especially grateful for this honor. We have many important goals with him, and we are quite delighted that he now plays for this team.”
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Since 1992, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has given out the African Footballer of the Year award. France Football, the body in charge of the Ballon d’Or, gave out a different award between 1970 and 1994.
The prestigious award was previously won by Salah in 2017 and 2018. The honor was last given out in 2019, when Mane accepted it. Some of the previous champions include Riyad Mahrez, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Yaya Toure, Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, and George Weah.
While Tottenham teenager Pape Matar Sarr, who was a member of Senegal’s AFCON-winning team, won the men’s Young Player of the Year award, Nigerian international Asisat Oshoala, a defender for Barcelona, won the honor for women.
Senegal had a fantastic night as they also won the title of male national team of the year and manager Aliou Cisse was recognized as the male coach of the year. Desiree Ellis, the manager of South Africa, won the title of Women’s Coach of the Year.
Senegalese winger Pape Ousmane Sakho earned the Goal of the Year award for his breathtaking overhead kick, and the men’s and women’s clubs of Wydad Athletic Club in Morocco and Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa respectively were named Clubs of the Year.
Both Ghanaian midfielder Evelyn Badu and Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy received the “Interclub” Player of the Year award from CAF. The latter was additionally named the Young Player of the Year for women.