Mohamed Salah has won the CAF African Player of the Year for a second successive season, beating out teammate Sadio Mane and Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the prestigious title.
Salah had a sensational 2018. From leading Egypt to their first World Cup since 1990, to reaching the Champions League final in May, to breaking the Premier League's seasonal goalscoring record in his debut campaign for Liverpool, it was quite a year.
Mohamed Salah is the African Player of the Year 2018. For the second time in a row #AiteoCAFAwards18 pic.twitter.com/iLKIFDnZqB
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 8, 2019
And, duly, it is not the first award he was won for his exploits in 2018, after he was crowned
the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, Liverpool Player of the Season and the BBC African Player of the Year.
With this win, the Egyptian has become the first player since Yaya Toure (who won it four times in a row from 2011 to 2014) to win the award in back to back seasons. The ceremony was held in Dakar, Senegal, the homeland of Salah's teammate and fellow nominee, Sadio Mane.
Though Mane was beaten to the titular award, he was given a place in Africa's Best XI, alongside fellow Red Naby Keita, as well as Premier League representatives Riyad Mahraz, Aubameyang, Eric Bailly and Serge Aurier.
Borussia Dortmund's Moroccan international Achraf Hakimi was named African Youth Player of the Year, with South Africa's Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana the female Player of the Year winner.
The awards ceremony came off the back of the announcement that Egypt, Salah's home nation, would be the new hosts of the 2019 African Cup of Nations, after Cameroon were stripped of the hosting rights due to infrastructural and financial issues.
Source : 90min