The governing body released a 30-man shortlist for the 2019 award.
Three Liverpool players have been included.
Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita have been put forward for the 2019 African Player of the Year award, with the Liverpool wingers surely the two favorites for the honor, the Premier League side have confirmed.
Mohamed Salah is targeting a third consecutive African Player of the Year trophy after being named on the preliminary list of nominees for the 2019 award. The Egyptian defended his crown last year after scoring 44 goals for Liverpool and Egypt in 2018 and finishing as the 2017-18 Premier League Golden Boot winner with 32 goals.
If the Egypt star wins the award again, he will be just the third player to have been named the continent’s Player of the Year a maximum of three times in his career, joining AC Milan icon George Weah and ex-Marseille star Abedi Pele. Only Yaya Toure and Samuel Eto’o have won it four times.
The 27-year-old faces competition for this year’s honour from Reds team-mate Sadio Mane. The Senegal international, who is having an outstanding season with Liverpool, helped his country reach the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations final, which they lost 1-0 to Algeria in Cairo. He was also joint top scorer in the Premier League last season with 22 goals alongside Salah and is joined by fellow Liverpool player Naby Keita.
Here is the full list:
Your African Player of the Year Nominees ??
— CAF (@CAF_Online) November 24, 2019
Who’ll win the prestigious award? ? #CAFAwards2019 pic.twitter.com/vRhPh3IAz7
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