Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah, and Moroccan International Achraf Hakimi are the final three for the CAF 2023 Player of the Year Award. The current holder is Senegal’s Sadio Mane.
The Confederation of African Football has unveiled the final three players for the CAF Men’s Player of the Year Award.
After he scored 26 Serie A goals, Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen has been crowned the Italian Footballers’ Association Player of the Year for his Napoli performances last season.
He was presented with the award on Monday night after helping his side win their first league title in 33 years.
Osimhen scored 26 Serie A goals in 2022-23, breaking former World Best George Weah’s record as the highest-scoring African in the Italian top flight in the process.
Mohamed Salah leads the way for top Premier League African goal scorer with 149 goals, 243 matches and 65 assists since joining Liverpool in 2017.
He won the African Award back to back in 2017 and 2018 and was runners-up in 2019 and 2022 behind former team mates Sado Mane.
Achraf Hakimi made headlines after he was named to Morocco’s 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
His winning penalty with a panenka-style shot in a shoot-out against Spain in the round of 16 helped secure a place for his country in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Yassine Bounou is one of the finalists for the Best Goalkeeper category, alongside Cameroon’s Andre Onana and Egypt’s Mohamed El Shenawy.
On Monday, 11 December 2023, the award ceremony will be held at the Palais des Congrès, Movenpick, Marrakech, Morocco, 19H00 local time (18H00 GMT).
The ultimate winner of each category is decided following votes from a panel consisting of the CAF Technical Committee, media professionals from Member Associations, Head Coaches and captains of Member Associations and clubs involved in the group stages of the Interclub competitions.
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