4 players from Morocco are on the final list for the Best African Player Award

The final list for the 2023 African Player of the Year award included four players from Morocco, after the “Atlas Lions” team’s achievement and coming fourth in the Qatar World Cup at the end of 2022 in an unprecedented African achievement. Today, the Confederation of African Football revealed a list of ten players that included goalkeeper Yassine Bono (Al Hilal Saudi Arabia), full-back Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain, France), striker Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla, Spain) and midfielder Sofiane Amrabat (Manchester United, England).

The list also included the Nigerian Victor Osimhen, who won the top scorer award and the Italian League title with Napoli, the Egyptian Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, England), the Algerian Riyad Mahrez (Al-Ahly, Saudi Arabia), the Senegalese Sadio Mane, who was crowned last year (Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia), and the Cameroonian Vincent Aboubakar (Besiktas, Turkey). And Frank Anguissa (Napoli, Italy).

A committee of technical experts from the Continental Confederation, African football legends, and media representatives selected from a number of countries prepared the preliminary list for the various categories, taking into account the performance of the candidates in the period between November 2022 and September 2023. Moroccan coach Walid Regragui is competing for the Best Technical Director award with Algerian Abdel Haq Benchikha, who led USM Algiers to the CAF Confederation Cup and African Super Cup titles, the Swiss Marcel Kohler, who led the Egyptian Al-Ahly to regain its title in the Champions League competition at the expense of Moroccan Wydad Casablanca, the Senegal and Gambian coaches Aliou Cisse (who was crowned last year) and the Belgian Tom Saintveit, respectively.

Five candidates are competing for the best goalkeeper award: Moroccan Bono, Egyptian Mohamed El-Shenawy (Al-Ahly), Cameroonian Andre Onana (Manchester United, England), South African Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns), and Senegalese champion Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahly, Saudi Arabia). Moroccans Bilal Al-Khannous (Belgium’s Genk) and Abdel Samad Zalzouli (Real Betis of Spain) were on a list of 5 players nominated for the Most Promising Player Award. 10 players are competing for the best local player award, including 7 from Arab countries.