By Harry Awurumibe with Agency report
Top African stars both at home and in diaspora have made the final list of 2022 CAF Awards nominees list even as the unveiling of the Awards Winners have been slated for July 21, 2022 in Rabat, Morocco.
CAF released the star-studded final list of nominees for the men’s categories on Monday, just as it said the ceremony will be televised live across Africa and the rest of the world.
Prompt News reports that the list includes reigning CAF African Player of the Year Sadio Mane (Senegal and Bayern Munich), former winner Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Manchester City), Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool), amongst others.
One of the highly contested categories is that of the CAF Coach of the Year, where Aliou Cisse, Pitso Mosimane, Carlos Queiroz, Tom Saintfiet and Walid Regragui have made the final cut.
The women’s categories final short list will be announced in due course.
The Player of the Year and Interclub Player of the Year have 10 nominees each, while the Young Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, National Team of the Year and Club of the Year has five (5) nominees each.
The winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, Head Coaches & Captains of Member Associations and clubs involved at the group stage of the Interclub competitions for the 2021/22 season.
Full List of Nominees (in alphabetical order by Member Association):
Player of the Year (Men)
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City),
Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Olympique Lyonnais), Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr), Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool).
Also in the list are: Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain), Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli) and Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich).
Interclub Player of the Year (Men)
Tiago Azulao (Petro Atletico),
Karim Konate (ASEC Mimosas),
Aliou Dieng (Al Ahly), Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly), Percy Tau (Al Ahly and Mohamed Sherif (Al Ahly).
Others are Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly),
Achraf Dari (Wydad Athletic Club), Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club) and Zouheir El Moutaraji (Wydad Athletic Club).
Young Player of the Year (Men)
Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso & Lorient), Karim Konate (Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg), Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana & Rennes), Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz) and Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United).
Coach of the Year (Men)
Carlos Queiroz (Egypt), Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly), Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia),
Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club) and Aliou Cisse (Senegal).
National Team of the Year
Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Egypt,
Morocco and Senegal
Club of the Year
Petro Atletico (Angola), Al Ahly (Egypt), RS Berkane (Morocco), Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco) and Orlando Pirates (South Africa).
