July 25th, 2022 at 06:58 am
SADIO MANE BEATS SALAH AND MENDY TO WIN AFRICA FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR 2022
On the 21st of July, 2022, it was announced that the winner of the African Footballer of the Year award is Sadio Mane. Sadio Mane is a 30-year-old forward player. He received this prestigious accolade last night in Morocco after moving from Liverpool to Bayern Munich this summer for a fee of £35 million. It must be added that it was just last month that Sadio Mane signed with German champions Bayern Munich.
Nonetheless, this is the second time he has won the honor. This declaration of Mane ad winner of Africa footballer of the year came after a season where Sadio scored the game-winning penalty for Senegal to help them win their first Africa Cup of Nations championship and repeated the feat to help them qualify for the World Cup.
Additionally, during the voting, Mane triumphed over Edouard Mendy who is a Senegalese. He also triumphed over the Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah. It must be added that Salah was Mane’s former Liverpool teammate. Past record has it that, Sadio once assisted Senegal in defeating Salah’s Egypt in order to win the Africa Cup of Nations and qualify for the World Cup.
In a highly successful 2021–22 season, the record also has it that, Sadio notched 23 goals in 51 games and as such, came close to winning the Premier League and Champions League crowns.
Moreso, Sadio gave out his remarks during the Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards ceremony in Rabat, Morocco, He said: “I am very, very happy to receive the trophy this year.” He further added, “I thank the Senegalese people and dedicate this trophy to the youth of my nation, I’m very emotional and don’t have the words to express how I’m feeling.”
Altogether, it was indeed a fantastic evening for Senegal as they took home five of the seven available men’s awards. For leading the nation to its first-ever AFCON triumph, Aliou Cisse won an award as Coach of the Year, while Pape Matar Sarr, was crowned the Young Player of the Year.
FURTHER THOUGHT
Although Sadio overshadowed Salah on two different occasions, and despite the fact that Sadio and Salah shared success with Liverpool in the FA Cup and League Cup and helped them reach the Champions League final, Mendy, a Chelsea Player, was however also crowned as the best goalkeeper in the world at FIFA’s 2021 award, which was held in January.