Sadio Mane is Africa’s Footballer of the Year

Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane has been named Africa’s Footballer of the Year for the second time.

The 30-year-old prevailed at the gala in Morocco’s capital Rabat against his former Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and national team colleague Edouard Mendy (Chelsea FC).

The Senegalese won the Africa Cup of Nations with his home country in February. Mane was voted Africa’s Footballer of the Year in 2019.

“I feel very honored and happy to receive this award again,” said Mane at the ceremony. In the past two years, the election had been canceled due to the corona pandemic. “I thank my coaches, my club and national team-mates and the friends who have stood by me through difficult times,” said Mane.

Mane has meanwhile left FC Bayern’s USA trip to attend the gala. Now he will not fly back to the USA, so Mane will miss Bayern’s friendly against Manchester City on Saturday.

Instead, Mane goes straight to Munich. If he had flown back, that would have meant flying more than 18,000 kilometers in a short time.