2023-11-18 01:01:23
The final list for the 2023 African Player of the Year award included four players from Morocco, after the achievement of the “Atlas Lions” team and its fourth place in the Qatar World Cup at the end of 2022 in an unprecedented African achievement.
On Friday, the Confederation of African Football revealed a list of ten players that included goalkeeper Yassine Bono (Al Hilal Saudi Arabia), full-back Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain, France), striker Youssef En-Nesyri (Seville, Spain) and midfielder Sofiane Amrabat (Manchester United, England).
The list also included Nigerian Victor Osimhen, who won the top scorer award and the Italian League title with Napoli, Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, England), Algerian Riyad Mahrez (Al-Ahly, Saudi Arabia), Senegalese Sadio Mane, who was crowned last year (Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia), and Cameroonians Vincent Abu Bakr (Besiktas, Turkey) and Frank. Anguissa (Naples, Italy).
A committee of technical experts from the continental confederation, African football legends and media representatives selected from a number of countries prepared the preliminary list for the various categories, taking into account the performance of the candidates in the period between November 2022 and September 2023.
Moroccan coach Walid Regragui is competing for the Best Technical Manager award with the Algerian Abdelhak Ben Sheikha, who led USM to the African Confederation Cup and African Super Cup titles, and the Swiss Marcel Kohler, who led the Egyptian Al-Ahly to regain its title in the Champions League competition at the expense of Moroccan Wydad Casablanca and the Senegalese coaches. Gambia’s Aliou Cisse (who was crowned last year) and Belgian Tom Saintveit, respectively.
Five candidates are also competing for the Best Goalkeeper Award: Moroccan Bono, Egyptian Mohamed El-Shenawy (Al-Ahly), Cameroonian Andre Onana (Manchester United, England), South African Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns), and defending champion Edouard Mendy of Senegal (Al-Ahly, Saudi Arabia).
Moroccans Bilal Al-Khannous (Belgium’s Genk) and Abdel Samad Zalzouli (Real Betis of Spain) were on a list of 5 players nominated for the Most Promising Player Award.
In addition, 10 players are competing for the Best Local Player award, including 7 from Arab countries.
The Moroccan and Mauritanian national teams were among the candidates for the best national team award, along with Senegal, Gambia and Equatorial Guinea.
The list of candidates for the best club included Al-Ahly Club of Egypt, which won the African Champions League, Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, champion of the first edition of the African League, USM Algiers (Algeria), and Young Africans (Tanzania).
The final winner in each category will be determined after a vote by a committee composed of the CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, coaches, and leaders of member associations and clubs participating in the group stages of club competitions.
The awards ceremony will be held next December 11 in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.
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