Caf Awards 2022: Salah, Mane and Mahrez headline Player of the Year nominees

Premier League stars Riyad Mahrez and Mohamed Salah, as well as Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane have been nominated to contest for the 2022 Caf Player of the Year award. 

Liverpool’s Salah would be hoping to win the diadem for the third time, albeit, he must negotiate his way past Manchester City’s Mahrez and Mane, who recently left Liverpool for Bayern Munich after the completion of the 2021-22 season.

Pitso Mosimane - who led Al Ahly to a third straight Caf Champions League final before walking away, Aliou Cisse - the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations winning coach with Senegal, and Mandla Ncikazi - who led Orlando Pirates to the Caf Confederation Cup final will square off for the Coach of the Year (Men) award.

Other awards that will be contested for include Interclub Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, National Team of the Year, and Club of the Year, while the nominees for the women’s categories will be announced in due course according to Caf.

The ceremony will be held ahead of the final of the Women’s Cup of Nations (Wafcon) – a competition scheduled to take place between July 2 and July 23 - in Morocco. The period under consideration is from September 2021 to June 2022 at all levels.

Full list of nominees for 2022 Caf Awards

Player of the Year (Men)

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)

Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Aston Villa)

Blati Toure (Burkina Faso & Pyramids)

Edmund Tapsoba (Burkina Faso & Bayer Leverkusen)

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon & Napoli)

Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Lyon)

Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon & Al Nassr)

Youssouf M'Changama (Comoros & Guingamp)

Franck Kessie (Cote d’Ivoire & AC Milan)

Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax)

Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt & Al Ahly)

Mohamed Elneny (Egypt & Arsenal)

Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)

Mohamed Shenawy (Egypt & Al Ahly)

Musa Barrow (Gambia & Bologna)

Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool)

Aliou Dieng (Mali & Al Ahly)

Hamari Traore (Mali & Rennes)

Yves Bissouma (Mali & Tottenham Hotspur)

Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain)

Sofiane Boufal (Morocco & Angers)

Yahya Jabrane (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)

Yassine Bounou (Morocco & Sevilla)

Moses Simon (Nigeria & Nantes)

Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea)

Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)

Nampalys Mendy (Senegal & Leicester City)

Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich)

Saliou Ciss (Senegal & Nancy)

Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)

Interclub Player of the Year (Men)

Riad Benayad (ES Setif)

Tiago Azulao (Petro Atletico)

Karim Konate (ASEC Mimosas)

Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly)

Aliou Dieng (Al Ahly)

Mohamed Shenawy (Al Ahly)

Mohamed Sherif (Al Ahly)

Percy Tau (Al Ahly)

Morlaye Sylla (Horoya)

Achraf Dari (Wydad Athletic Club)

Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club)

Zouhair El Moutaraji (Wydad Athletic Club)

Mouhcine Moutouali (Raja Club Athletic)

Issoufou Dayo (RS Berkane)

Youssou El Fahli (RS Berkane)

Victorien Adebayor (Niger & Union Sportive Gendarmerie Nationale)

Peter Shalulile (Mamelodi Sundowns)

Bandile Shandu (Orlando Pirates)

Thembinkosi Lorch (Orlando Pirates)

Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Esperance Sportive de Tunis)

Young Player of the Year (Men)

Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso & Lorient)

Karim Konate (Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg)

Jesus Owono (Equatorial Guinea & Alaves)

James Gomez (The Gambia & AC Horsens)

Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana & Rennes)

Ilaix Moriba Kourouma (Guinea & Valencia)

El Bilal Toure (Mali & Reims)

Akinkunmi Amoo (Nigeria & FC Copenhagen)

Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz)

Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United)

Coach of the Year (Men)

Kamou Malo (Burkina Faso)

Amir Abdou (Comoros)

Carlos Quieroz (Egypt)

Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly)

Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia)

Florent Ibenge (RS Berkane)

Vahid Halilhodzic (Morocco)

Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club)

Aliou Cisse (Senegal)

Mandla Ncikazi (Orlando Pirates)

National Team of the Year (Men)

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Comoros

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

The Gambia

Mali

Morocco

Senegal

Tunisia

Club of the Year (Men)

ES Setif (Algeria)

Petro Atletico (Angola)

TP Mazembe (DR Congo)

Al Ahly (Egypt)

Ahli Tripoli (Libya)

Al Ittihad (Libya)

Raja Club Athletic (Morocco)

RS Berkane (Morocco)

Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)

Orlando Pirates (South Africa)