Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané will compete with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez to be named as the African Player of the Year.
Salah has won the last two awards but faces real competition in his bid to lift the trophy for the third consecutive year.
Mané has finished as runner-up to Salah for two years in a row, and the CAF have revealed that he will now have a third chance to fight his way to the top of the podium ahead of his Liverpool teammate.
Only four men have ever won the award three times. George Weah and Abedi Pele both managed three triumphs, while Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Touré managed to win the award on four occasions.
It is tricky to say who will be the outright favourite, although it will likely come down to the two Liverpool representatives.
Mané bagged 26 goals and five assists, while he also managed three goals at the African Cup of Nations to fire Senegal to the final, where they ultimately came up short against Mahrez’s Algeria.
His rich vein of form has continued this year, with Mané racking up 13 goals and ten assists since the start of the current campaign.
Ordinarily, those kind of numbers would almost guarantee individual success, but Salah has enjoyed an equally impressive 2019.
Salah ended last season with 27 goals and 13 assists, before bagging 13 and seven this year, so he is certainly in with a good chance of winning the award yet ahain.
You can’t help but feel sorry for Mahrez. The City man has been in excellent form for Pep Guardiola’s side, but just so happens to come up against two Africans who have proven to be some of the world’s elite talents.
For the Women’s Player of the Year award, defending champions Thembi Kgatlana of South Africa will compete with Cameroon’s Ajara Nchout and Nigeria forward Asisat Oshoala for the award.
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