For Second Straight Year... Salah Wins CAF African Player of Year award

Written By: Ibrahim El-Shawarby

CAIRO, Jan.8 (SEE)- Mohamed Salah has been named CAF African Player of the Year for the second successive year. The Egyptian received the accolade at a ceremony in Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday evening.

The Egyptian forward held off competition from teammate Sadio Mane and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to land the award, as the exact same three players competed for the award last year.

A poll of CAF’s national teams’ head coaches and technical directors, members of the governing body’s technical and development committee and a panel of media experts selected Salah as the continent’s outstanding footballer in 2018.

Salah scored 44 goals during last year’s 2017-18 campaign in which he helped his club reach the Champions League final against Real Madrid, The Pride of Arabs also helped secure Egypt’s spot in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, for the first time in 20 years and scored twice in the competition.

The Liverpool forward is currently one of the Premier League’s leading players, scoring 13 goals and assisting eight in 21 games with his club this season, which currently hold 1st place in the league table.

A further 16 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool have followed so far this season, while Salah also contributed four goals in three Africa Cup of Nations qualification outings for his country in 2018.

The 26-year-old’s performances throughout the year also saw him retain the BBC African Footballer of the Year prize and finish sixth in the Ballon d’Or standings.