Sadio Mane Named African Footballer Of The Year Ahead Of Liverpool And Chelsea Stars

Sadio Mane has become the 10th player to win the African Footballer of the Year award more than once. The 2022 CAF awards ceremony was in Morocco on Thursday.

Robert Summerscales | Jul 21, 2022

Sadio Mane Named African Footballer Of The Year Ahead Of Liverpool And Chelsea Stars /

Sadio Mane has become the 10th player to win the African Footballer of the Year award more than once.

The Senegal icon was announced as the 2022 winner at the Confederation of African Football's awards ceremony in Rabat, Morocco on Thursday.

Mane was in Morocco to collect his award in person, less than 24 hours after making his Bayern debut in the United States.

Sadio Mane pictured with his trophy after winning the 2022 African Footballer of the Year award :: YouTube/CAF TV

Mane topped the vote ahead of former Liverpool teammate Mo Salah and Chelsea's Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Salah was the standout player in England's Premier League last season, winning the Golden Boot with 23 goals and topping the assists chart with 13.

But Mane, who left Liverpool to sign for Bayern in June, twice got the better of Salah at international level.

Mane's Senegal beat Salah's Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations final in February and then again in a World Cup qualification play-off in March.

Sadio Mane pictured at AFCON 2021 — Mane led Senegal to glory at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 :: IMAGO/Sebastian Frej

Mendy also played a key role in Senegal's success, as well as becoming a Club World Cup champion with Chelsea in February.

The 30-year-old is the first goalkeeper to make the top three in an African Footballer of the Year vote since 2014 when Vincent Enyeama came third.

Mane is the sixth player to have been named African Footballer of the Year on exactly two occasions. The others are Salah, Didier Drogba, Roger Milla, Nwankwo Kanu and El Hadji Diouf.

George Weah and Abedi Pele are both three-time winners, while Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Toure have won the award four times each.

AFRICA’S FINEST! 💫

🇸🇳 Sadio Mane is the Player of the Year (MEN) for the second time! 🤩

𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆! 🦁 #CAFAwards2022 pic.twitter.com/3fsLRbw5YX
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) July 21, 2022

Sadio Mane pictured with his trophy after being named the African Footballer of the Year at the 2019 CAF awards — Senegal forward Mane first won the African Footballer of the Year award in 2019 :: IMAGO/Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa

Published Jul 21, 2022

ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.