Usual suspects Mane, Salah and Mahrez make final shortlist for Caf Awards

Sadio Mane, Riyadh Mahrez and Mohamed Salah are the men meant to battle for the top men’s player of the year 2019 at highly anticipated Caf Awards.

The final shortlist was revealed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) following votes from a CAF Technical & Development Committee and a panel of media experts with emphasis on the nominees’ performance during the year under review, 2019.

Caf also reveals that there were also votes from a select panel of CAF Legends, made up of former winners of the prestigious African Player of the Year award. The legends took part in the voting process for the Player of the Year (Men & Women).

🚨 And then there are 3⃣!

🇪🇬 @MoSalah@LFC – @Pharaohs

🇩🇿 @Mahrez22@ManCity – @LesVerts

🇸🇳 Sadio Mané @LFC – @FootballSenegal

Who will be crowned the best in Africa on the 7th of January In Hurghada? 👑 pic.twitter.com/mc7o47Bk1j

— CAF (@CAF_Online) December 22, 2019

“The final phase of voting for the men’s and women’s African Player of the Year, as well as the male and female Coach of the Year, will be selected by Head Coaches/Technical Directors and Captains of senior national teams from CAF Member Associations,” read part of the statement on the Caf website.

Caf also revealed that the Interclubs Player of the Year will be decided upon by the Head Coaches and Captains of the group phase of the current season of CAF Interclubs competitions.

The award winners for each category will be announced during the CAF Awards ceremony on Tuesday, 7 January 2020, at the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt.

Full list of shortlists are as follows (in alphabetical order)

Men’s Player of the Year:

• Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
• Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)
• Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)

Women’s Player of the Year:

• Ajara Nchout (Cameroon & Valerenga)
• Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria & Barcelona)
• Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa & Beijing Phoenix FC)

African Interclubs Player of the Year:

• Anice Badri (Tunisia & Esperance)
• Tarek Hamed (Egypt & Zamalek)
• Youcef Belaïli (Algeria & Esperance / Ahli Jeddah)

African Youth Player of the Year:

• Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Borussia Dortmund)
• Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria & Villarreal)
• Victor Osimhen (Nigeria & Lille)

African Men’s Coach of the Year:

• Aliou Cisse (Senegal – Senegal)
• Djamel Belmadi (Algeria – Algeria)
• Moïne Chaâbani (Tunisia – Esperance)

African Women’s Coach of the Year:

• Alain Djeumfa (Cameroon)
• Desiree Ellis (South Africa)
• Thomas Dennerby (Nigeria)

African Men’s National Team of the Year:

• Algeria
• Madagascar
• Senegal

African Women’s National Team of the Year:

• Cameroon
• Nigeria
• South Africa