• African football

African Player of the Year: CAF announces three-man shortlist

Salah, Mane, Premier League
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The award will discover its first winner since Sadio Mane claimed it in 2019.

Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Edouard Mendy have made the three-man shortlist for Africa’s Player of the Year award.

Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has picked the trio ahead of an official ceremony on Thursday, where the winner will receive his award.

It has been three years since CAF last handed out the award. Sadio Mane, who claimed the prize ahead of Riyad Mahrez and Mohamed Salah in 2019, is once again in the final shortlist.

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The former Liverpool star spent another incredible campaign at Anfield. In addition to being a key player in Liverpool’s quadruple push, Mane captained Senegal to their first-ever AFCON title.

Mane defeated Mohamed Salah and Egypt to claim the continental title. But that has not convinced the CAF to omit the Egyptian star from the shortlist.

Salah scored 31 goals in his 51 appearances for Liverpool while winning a host of individual awards in the Premier League. The Egyptian star will have to compete against Mane and Edouard Mendy to win his third African Player of the Year award.

Mendy didn’t experience the same level of success at Chelsea. However, his performances were crucial to Senegal’s AFCON triumph and their subsequent qualification for the 2022 World Cup.

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