Morocco, semi-finalist of the World Cup at the end of 2022, has four players in the list announced Friday by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the title of “African Player of the Year”, which will be awarded on December 11 .
The Atlas Lions take the lion’s share with a quartet made up of goalkeeper Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal Ryad), full-back Achraf Hakimi (Paris SG), midfielder Sofyan Amrabat (Manchester United) and striker Youssef En-Nesri (Sevilla FC).
Sensation of the event, Walid Regragui’s team dominated a World Cup group including Belgium and Croatia, vice-world champion in 2018, then eliminated Spain and Portugal before losing ahead of France in the semi-final. With this journey, Morocco became the first African country to reach the final four of the world tournament since its creation in 1930.
Among the other players included in this list are the Egyptian Mohamed Salah – the metronome of Liverpool -, the Senegalese Sadio Mané, title holder and playing for Al-Nassr Ryad, and the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, who is enjoying the heyday of the Saudi club Al-Ahli FC.
The Cameroonians André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Naples) and Vincent Aboubacar (Besiktas Istanbul) as well as the Nigerian Victor Osimhen (Naples) complete the list.
The winner will be known during a ceremony to be held in Marrakech on December 11.
Regarding the other distinctions, which will be awarded during the same ceremony, the Moroccan coach and his Senegalese counterpart Aliou Cissé, reigning African champion, are favorites, while that of the best goalkeeper will include Yassine Bounou, André Onana (Manchester United) and Edouard Mendy (Al Ahli Jeddah).