Leaks from within the African Football Confederation revealed the final ranking for the Best Player in Africa, with Senegalese player Sadio Mané, who recently transferred from Liverpool to Bayern Munich, winning the award. According to several media reports discussing the leaks, Egyptian star Mohamed Salah lost the "Ballon d'Or" for the Best African Player to Sadio Mané.
If the leaks are accurate, the reasons for Salah's loss of the African Ballon d'Or stem from the lack of international results with the Egyptian national team. Egypt, led by Salah, lost the Africa Cup of Nations title to Senegal, led by Mané, in the final via penalties. Egypt also missed out on qualification for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 after losing to Senegal, again led by Mané.
At the club level, Salah won the same trophies as his teammate Mané since they were playing for the same team. Consequently, Salah lost the award due to the outcomes of the tournaments he participated in with his national team, overshadowing his outstanding individual achievements with Liverpool.
The Egyptian star received the Premier League Player of the Season award for the second time in his career after winning it in 2018. Salah also claimed other individual titles during the season, including Liverpool's Player of the Season. He was crowned the top scorer in the Premier League for the third time, sharing the title with South Korean Son Heung-min from Tottenham.
Salah significantly contributed to Liverpool's competition for the Premier League and the Champions League titles until the very end, successfully winning the EFL Cup and the FA Cup with Liverpool. He participated in 51 matches with "the Reds" last season, scoring 31 goals and providing 16 assists, making him the best playmaker in the Premier League alongside being the top scorer.
According to the leaks, the candidates for the Best Player award in Africa were ranked as follows:
1. Senegalese Sadio Mané (Bayern Munich)
2. Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
3. Senegalese Édouard Mendy (Chelsea)
4. Algerian Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
5. Ivorian Sébastien Haller (Ajax)
6. Moroccan Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
7. Cameroonian Vincent Aboubakar (Al Nassr)
8. Guinean Naby Keïta (Liverpool)
9. Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)
10. Cameroonian Karl Toko Ekambi (Olympique Lyon).
The CAF Awards ceremony for the best in African football for the past season (2021-2022) will take place tomorrow, Thursday, in Morocco.
