The top three African footballers have been selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in anticipation of the upcoming CAF Awards coming up on January 7, 2020, which will reveal the best African football player for the year 2019.
The top three contenders are Liverpool players Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, and Manchester City player Riyad Mahrez.
The Senegalese player Sadio Mané is the favorite for this year's best African Football player title, ahead of his Egyptian teammate Mohamed Salah. Both Mané and Salah have been part of the last three nominations, with Salah winning both the 2017 and 2018 title.
French-Algerian Riyad Mahrez (2016 title winner) is planned to provide stiff competition to the two Liverpool nominees, bringing on the table a lot of credits such as Premier League winner (with Manchester City) and African Cup of Nation winner (as captain of the Algerian team).
How are players selected? The nominees are selected by a panel of football experts from the CAF and also former players and members of the media. The final vote is done by the coaches and captains of the African national teams and announced at the award ceremony.
The award winners for each category will be announced during the CAF Awards ceremony on Tuesday, 7 January 2020, at the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh in Egypt.
