No Ghanaian player made the cut for the initial 30-man list for the African footballer of the year award following the Confederation of African Football’s release of the first list of nominees for the CAF Awards 2022 which will be held on 21 July 2022 in Rabat, Morocco.
Despite qualifying for this year’s FIFA World Cup, the Black Stars were also left out of the 10-team nominations for national team of the year, same as Ghana’s no-show in the coach of the year category which also has ten nominees.
Following Accra Hearts of Oak’s absymal showing in Africa club competition, there is no news that neither a club or player from this country are nominated for club of the year nor interclub player of the year.
Kamaldeen Sulemana face to face against Lionel Messi during Rennes’ 2-0 win over PSG
There is some good news however for France based speedster, Kamaldeen Sulemana whose exploits with Rennes in the French Ligue 1 and breaking into Ghana’s successful Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying team in the year under reviewed couldn’t be ignored after earning nomination for young player of the year in a 10-man highly competitive field.
The revealed nominees are mainly for the Men’s categories namely Player of the Year, Interclub Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, National Team of the Year and Club of the Year. The nominees for the Women’s categories will be announced in due course.
A stakeholder panel made up of Technical Experts, CAF Legends and Journalists decided on the list for the various categories taking into the consideration the performance of the nominee from September 2021 till June 2022 at all levels.
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.
The CAF Awards 2022 will be held ahead of the final of Africa’s flagship women’s competitions, TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2022 scheduled to take place between 02 July – 23 July 2022. The event will also coincide with the two-year anniversary of the launch of the CAF Women’s Football Strategy.
Full List of Nominees (in alphabetic order by Member Association):
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 Aboubacar (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 Mimomas)
- 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)
Credit: CAF Communication Department
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