Sports
CAF Player of the Year: Salah, Mane, Aubameyang battle for crown
The CAF Players of the Year award will be handed to the deserving winner today, January 8, in a Gala in Dakar, Senegal, and Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are those in the battle for the men’s crown.
Liverpool duo of Salah and Mane and Arsenal forward, Aubameyang, made the top three -after a long list was pruned -for the most prestigious individual accolade in African football.
The three made the final shortlist last year when Egypt’s Salah took the crown for the first time.
Gabonese icon Aubameyang, maintains his familiar status amongst the top three finalists since 2014, thus five times in a row and equalling the record of Ivorian legend and four-time Player of the Year, Yaya Toure (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) and Ghanaian midfield supremo Michael Essien (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
The 29-year old will be hoping to lay his hands on the enviable crown a second time, having won it only in 2015.
Read Also: ‘It’s fake news’ – Presidency says Buhari didn’t order Pinnick’s prosecution
26-year-old Salah made history becoming the first Egyptian to win the title since the inception of the awards scheme in 1992.
It is the second time, he has made the final three and Salah has his eyes set on joining the elite league of players to win the honour back-to-back. Senegalese El Hadji Diouf (2001, 2002), Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon (2003, 2004) and Toure (2011, 2012) are the only three to win successive titles.
For 26-year-old Mane, this is his third time making the final three. He came third in 2016 and second in 2017.
He will be hoping to be third time lucky and become the second Senegalese to win the topmost individual honour after Diouf.
In the women category, Super Falcons star Asisat Oshoala will be hoping to equal the four titles record of her compatriot Perpetua Nkwocha. However, she faces stiff challenges from compatriot Francisa Ordega and South African Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana.
Other awards are Men’s national team of the year, Women’s national team of the year Youth player of the year, Women’s coach of the year, Men’s coach of the year.
The award ceremony will kick off by 8:00p.m Nigeria time.
RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears
Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...