Sadio Mane looks set to win African Player of the Year award

Jan 02, 2020 06:00 am

Liverpool star Sadio Mane is expected to become the first African football headline-maker of 2020 by winning the continent's Player of the Year award in Egypt next week.

The Jan 7 ceremony at the Egyptian Red Sea resort Hurghada will set in motion a year sure to be full of drama on and off the field with 2022 World Cup and 2021 African Nations Cup qualifiers in the mix.

Senegal talisman Mane is favourite to become the second star from his country, after El Hadji Diouf, to be named African Player of the Year.

His rivals are Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah, the Egyptian who won the last two editions, and Algerian Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City - who won the prize in 2016.

Mane has never won the award, but finished second behind Salah in the last two years and was third in 2016, behind Mahrez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang respectively.

Attacker Mane, 27, finished fourth in Ballon d'Or voting this month, making him the highest-ranked African player. - AFP