Again, Nigerians missing as Salah, Mane, Mahrez listed for CAF awards

No Nigerian player is listed in the men’s Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) awards list released by the continental body, yesterday. The list is dominated by Senegal, Cameroun and Morocco.

Since Kanu Nwankwo won the award in 1999, no Super Eagles player has won Africa’s most prestigious football awards.
Those listed for this year’s awards are Senegal’s Sadio Mane (and Bayern Munich), Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah amongst others. The award holds on July 21 in Rabat, Morocco.

One of the highly contested categories is that of the CAF Coach of the Year, where Aliou Cisse, Pitso Mosimane, Carlos Queiroz, Tom Saintfiet and Walid Regragui have made the final cut.

The player of the year and interclub player of the year has 10 nominees each, while the young player of the year, coach of the year, national team of the year and club of the year has five nominees each.

The winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF technical committee, media professionals, head coaches and captains of member associations and clubs involved at the group stage of the Interclub competitions for the 2021/22 season.

The full list of nominees is as follows: Player of the Year (Men): Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City); Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroun & Olympique Lyonnais); Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr); Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax); Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool); Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool); Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain); Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea); Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli) and Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich).

Interclub Player of the Year (Men): Tiago Azulao (Petro Atletico); Karim Konate (ASEC Mimosas); Aliou Dieng (Al Ahly); Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly); Percy Tau (Al Ahly); Mohamed Sherif (Al Ahly); Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly); Achraf Dari (Wydad Athletic Club); Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club); Zouheir El Moutaraji (Wydad Athletic Club); Young Player of the Year (Men); Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso & Lorient); Karim Konate (Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg); Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana & Rennes); Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz); and Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United).

Coach of the Year (Men): Carlos Queiroz (Egypt); Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly); Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia); Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club) and Aliou Cisse (Senegal).

National Team of the Year: Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Egypt, Morocco, and Senegal. Club of the Year: Petro Atletico (Angola), Al Ahly (Egypt), RS Berkane (Morocco), Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco) and Orlando Pirates (South Africa).