The 28th edition of the annual CAF Awards was held yesterday, the 7th of January. The venue was Albatros Citadel Hotel Sahl Hasheesh, in Egypt. The Award rewards the best players from the continent each year.
The Senegalese international and Liverpool star has been named the winner of the 2019 CAF player of the year award. Sadio Mané has previously been among the three finalists in the last three editions of the Award.
In 2016, he finished 3rd behind Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez (the winner) from Algeria, and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon. In the last two editions, he was the runner up against Liverpool teammate, Mohammed Salah.
Last season was a great one for Sadio Mané for both club and country. He won the Premier League Golden boot with 22 goals, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the Club World Cup.
Mané polled 477 votes, while his closest rival and teammate Mohammed Salah had 325 votes. Riyad Mahrez had a total of 267 votes.
He created a record during his spell in Southampton. He holds the record for the fastest hat-trick to be scored in 176 seconds in a match against Aston Villa.
The 32nd edition of the African Cup of Nations hosted in 2019 was tagged ‘African Cup of Nations for all African countries.’
The African Cup of Nations is the biennial international men’s football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football. Egypt hosted the tournament.
The tournament was hosted in Egypt, from the 21st of June – the 19th of July. A total of 24 teams participated. A total of 52 games were played, 102 goals were scored, and each match had an average of 18,136 people in attendance.
The tournament was initially scheduled to hold in Cameroon. Cameroon being the winners of the previous year’s tournament, 2018, would be hosting the tournament for the first time since 1972. However, owing to poor infrastructure, Boko haram insurgencies, and the Anglophone crisis, Egypt was chosen to host the tournament by the CAF executive committee.
Algeria was crowned champion of Africa with a 100% record of 7 wins and 0 loss.
The Super Eagles forward Odion Ighalo was the Top scorer with a total of 5 goals. He was two goals clear of his closest challengers; Riyad Mahrez(Algeria), Adam Ounas(Algeria), Cédric Bakambu(DR Congo), and Sadio Mane(Senegal).
The Algerian Goalkeeper got the Award of best goalkeeper of the tournament. His name is Rais M’bolhi. He is regarded as ‘Algeria’s safe-hands.’ His excellent saves got the team their position as champion.
Rais M’bolhi also won the final Man of the Match Award. After pulling some super saves, no one can dispute the fact that he was the force why the scoreline remains the same after the 2nd-minute goal by Algeria.
Asisat Oshoala, the Nigerian international and Barcelona star, was also crowned at the 2019 CAF awards as Africa’s Women Player of the year award for the record 4th time to equal compatriots record Perpetua Nkwocha.
She had 351 votes, 30 votes more than the first runner up, Ajara Nchout, Cameroonian forward, and Thembi Kgatlana, the second runner up who had 247 votes.
See the complete list of winners here.
That brings us to the close of the tournament. We look forward to the next one that will commence in 2021 to be hosted by Cameroon.
Who will win the next CAF awards Player of the Year?
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