Senegal’s star forward Sadio Mane was named Africa’s Men’s Player of the Year at the CAF Awards 2022, after leading the Teranga Lions to its maiden Africa Cup of Nations title, while Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala set a new record when she walked away with her fifth Women’s Player of the Year award.
It was a highly successful night for Senegal who were also named National Team of the Year, while their coach Aliou Cisse was named Africa’s Coach of the Year at a glittering function in the Moroccan capital of Rabat.
Mane retains the CAF African Player of the Year title, having also won the 2019 edition: the previous edition. He has recently left England’s Liverpool after a trophy-laden spell with the Reds, becoming the German Bundesliga’s marquee player after signing for Bayern Munich.
Oshoala now overtakes her compatriot Perpetua Nkwocha, to stand alone as a record five-time winner of the African Player of the Year accolade.
South Africa’s national women’s head coach Desiree Ellis, who will lead Banyana Banyana into Saturday’s final of the 2022 TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations against hosts Morocco, was named Africa’s Coach of the Year in the women’s football category.
To top off a huge night for the Teranga Lions, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, who made his international debut as an 18-year-old and was part of Senegal’s AFCON 2021 winning team, was named Africa’s Young Player of the Year.
The awards were held at Morocco’s impressive Mohamed VI Technical Centre in Sale, Rabat and attended by a gathering of Africa’s top football personalities and football stars.
Morocco’s Wydad Athletic Club were rewarded for their TotalEnergies CAF Champions League 2022 win by being named Africa’s Club of the Year in the men’s section.
South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns FC were named Africa’s women’s Club of the Year after winning their domestic league and the inaugural TotalEnergies Women’s Champions League in Egypt in 2021.
Ghana’s Evelyn Badu scooped a double on the night as she won the women’s Interclub Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards, after leading Hasaacas Ladies all the way to the final of the inaugural TotalEnergies Women’s Champions League and winning the tournament’s Golden Boot.
The men’s Interclub Player of the Year was won by legendary Al Ahly and Egypt goalkeeper and captain, Mohamed El Shenawy.
It was another Senegalese player in Simba’s Pape Ousmane Sakho who won CAF’s Goal of the Year in the mixed category for men and women for his spectacular overhead strike for Simba against Asec Mimosa in a TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup group game.
The women’s National Team of the Year will be named after Saturday’s TotalEnergies Women’s Cup of Nations final between hosts Morocco and South Africa at the Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
