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| Africa's finest... Riyad Mahrez |
Algeria star Riyad Mahrez was named the
2016 African Player of the Year at the CAF Awards held on Thursday night in
Abuja, Nigeria. The Leicester City winger beat out strong competition from Gabon’s
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Senegal’s Sadio Mane to the win accolade and became
the first Algerian to lift the award in the process.
Mahrez claimed the honour after a
magical year with Leicester City in which he helped inspire the club to an
improbable English Premier League victory.
South Africa club side Mamelodi Sundowns
also had a night to remember as they collected three awards.
The Brazilians were named the Club of
the Year after a magnificent 2016 where the side won South Africa’s Premier Soccer
League with a record 71 points haul before lifting the CAF Champions League and
then becoming the first South African club to take part in the Fifa Club World
Cup.
Pitso Mosimane was also named the Coach
of the Year award while Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango completed the
hat-trick by winning the Best Player Based in Africa award.
Onyango won the award ahead of club-mate
Khama Billiat of Zimbabwe and Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba who won the 2016 CAF
Confederation Cup with TP Mazembe.
There were more celebrations for Onyango
as he watched his country Uganda take home the National Team of the Year award.
The triumph was a reward for Uganda’s achievement of qualifying for the 2017
Africa Cup of Nations, their first qualification in almost 40 years. The
inspirational Onyango played a key role in Uganda’s success just as he did in
Sundowns’ run to the Champions League title.
In other awards, Arsenal’s Nigeria
starlet Alex Iwobi beat Eric Ayiah (Charity FC, Ghana) and Sandra Owusu-Ansah
(Supreme Ladies, Ghana) to the 2016 African Youth Player of the Year accolade
while Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho was named Africa’s Most
Promising Talent.
The 20-year-old pipped Naby Keita (RB
Leipzig) and Elia Meschak (TP Mazembe) to the award.
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| It was a brilliant 2016 for Denis Onyango... |
CAF African Team
of the Year
Goalkeeper:
Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
Defenders:
Serge Aurier (Cote D’Ivoire & Paris Saint-Germain), Aymen Abdennour
(Tunisia & Valencia), Eric Bailly (Cote D’Ivoire & Manchester
United), Joyce Lomalisa (DR Congo & As Vita)
Midfielders:
Khama Billiat (Zimbabwe & Mamelodi Sundowns), Rainford Kalaba (Zambia
& TP Mazembe), Keegan Dolly (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns),
Forwards:
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borussia Dortmund), Sadio Mane
(Senegal & Liverpool), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Leicester City)
Substitutes:
Aymen Mathlouthi (Tunisia & Etoile Du Sahel),
Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli), Salif Coulibaly (Mali & TP
Mazembe), Islam Slimani (Algeria & Leicester City), Mohamed Salah (Egypt
& Roma), Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria & Manchester City), Alex Iwobi
(Nigeria & Arsenal)
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Here are all the
winners from the 2016 Glo-CAF Awards:
African Player
of the Year
Riyad
Mahrez (Algeria and Leicester City)
African Player
of the Year – Based in Africa
Denis
Onyango (Uganda and Mamelodi Sundowns)
Women’s Player
of the Year
Asisat
Oshoala (Nigeria and Arsenal Ladies)
Most Promising
Talent
Kelechi
Iheanacho (Nigeria and Manchester City)
Youth Player of
the Year
Alex
Iwobi (Nigeria and Arsenal)
Coach of the
Year
Pitso
Mosimane (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Club of the Year
Mamelodi
Sundowns
National Team of
the Year
Uganda
Women’s National
Team of the Year
Nigeria
Referee of the
Year
Bakary
Papa Gassama (Gambia)
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