Mane is the King of Africa again!

The Senegal forward first won the honour in 2019 while he was at Liverpool.

No player was chosen for this award in 2020 and 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Mane travelled to the Moroccan capital from Washington to receive the award after converting a penalty for his new club, Bayern Munich in a 6-2 pre-season friendly over DC United.

Who Mane beat

He pipped former Liverpool teammate and Egyptian Mohamed Salah and fellow Senegal international and Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Mane and Salah played pivotal roles last season with Liverpool, who lifted the FA Cup and English League Cup and finished runners-up in the Premier League and Champions League.

Mane opted for a move to Bayern for a reported 32 million euros that could rise to 41 million euros.

Born in a village nearly 400 kilometres from Dakar, Mane attracted the attention of Metz having playing for local second-tier club Generation Foot.

Next, Red Bull Salzburg bought him from Metz for four million euros in 2012.

After enhancing his reputation at Salzburg, Mane joined Southampton, where he scored a record-breaking 176-second Premier League hat-trick against Aston Villa.

In mid-2016, Mane signed for Liverpool and went on to form a legendary front three with Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Mane’s spectacular year

In February, Mane converted the decisive fifth penalty to give Senegal a 4-2 shootout victory over Egypt and land the Africa Cup of Nations title.

A month later, Mane was once again the shootout match-winner against Egypt, this time in a World Cup play-off near Dakar after a 1-1 aggregate stalemate.

Born in a village nearly 400 kilometres from Dakar, Mane attracted the attention of Metz having playing for local second-tier club Generation Foot.

As Mane moved to Bayern, Liverpool manager said Jurgen Klopp said, “My only criticism of Sadio is that he is the only one not to realize just how good he is.”

Oshoala wins again

Nigerian Asisat Oshoala won the Women’s Player of the Year a record fifth time, overtaking compatriot Perpetua Nkwocha.

Her previous successes came in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019.

The 27-year-old Barcelona forward was forced to miss the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco due to an injury.