Sadio Mane named African Footballer of the Year ahead of Mohamed Salah and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
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.
Sadio Mane, a forward for Bayern Munich, has won the African Footballer of the Year for a second time.
The 30-year-old international from Senegal got the top honor on Thursday during an awards event. Mane, who just switched teams to Bayern this summer, took home the prize ahead of Edouard Mendy of Chelsea and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool.
Mane lead Liverpool to the FA Cup and EFL Cup last season by scoring 23 goals for them. 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 fight for the Premier League championship by just one point to Manchester City.
Mane motivated Senegal to victory in the Africa Cup of Nations on a global scale in February. In the final, his country overcame Salah’s Egypt on penalties after he scored the game-winning spot-kick. Mane outperformed Salah in the competition 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 whole Bundesliga. He is also an incredibly excellent player.
Oliver Khan, CEO of Bayern, added: “The recognition of Sadio Mane makes us happy. An African Player of the Year has never before been a member of FC Bayern in its lengthy history.
Our group is really grateful for this honor. We have many important goals with him, and we are quite delighted that he now plays for our team.”
Since 1992, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has given out the African Footballer of the Year award. Between 1970 and 1994, France Football, the organization that oversees the Ballon d’Or, presented a different prize.
The prestigious award was previously won by Salah in 2017 and 2018. The honor was last given out in 2019, when Mane accepted it.
Riyad Mahrez, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Yaya Toure, Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, and George Weah are some of the previous champions.
While Tottenham youngster 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.
