The 2022 CAF Awards ceremony saw Bayern Munich and Senegal superstar Sadio Mane win the prestigious African Player of the Year, following in the footsteps of his idol El Hadji Diouf.
The 30-year-old frontman beat his former teammate Mohamed Salah and fellow countryman Edouard Mendy.
Mane played a significant role in helping Senegal win their historic first Africa Cup of Nations title held in Cameroon earlier this year, also inspiring them to this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
After winning the award last night, an elated Sadio Mane spoke about his win and what the accolade means to him.
“I am so excited to win this award. There are so many players that deserve this award, but I have been chosen. I am honoured, and I thank everyone for this,” he told cafonline.com.
This was the Lions Teranga’s lethal goal poacher’s second African Player of the Year award, winning it back in 2019.
Mane expressed his excitement and said, “I cannot explain this. It is so far the best year of Senegalese football. To collect all these awards, you have to believe first. It was hard work, and we never stopped dreaming. We continued working hard, and finally, we got it.”
The former Liverpool man found the back of the net on 23 occasions for Reds across all competitions last season before joining the Germany Champions ahead of the new campaign.
It was a big night for Senegal, who also won National Team of the Year and for Aliou Cisse, who was named the Coach of the Year. Simba’s Senegalese import Pape Sakho also walked away with the Goal of the Year. At the same time, 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.
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