Salah Osimhen or Hakimi.. Who will be the best African player in 2023? – DW – 12/9/2023

Liverpool’s Egyptian striker is getting ready Mohammed Salah After being shortlisted to win the African Player of the Year award for the third time, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Thursday.

Salah, who won back-to-back awards in 2017 and 2018, faces Paris Saint-Germain defender Akraf Hakimi, a key factor in Morocco’s run to the World Cup semi-finals, and Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, who scored 26 goals last season. Led Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years.

Nigeria’s Asizad Oshola, a record five-time winner, is competing for the women’s award alongside South Africa’s Thembi Katlana and Zambian captain Barbara Banda.

The Egyptian pharaoh seeks glory

Although he has won many individual titles and awards in his busy sporting career, English team Liverpool’s top-scoring Egyptian international star Mohamed Salah has never stopped in his pursuit of more of them.

(Egyptian Pharaoh) will be looking for a new award to add to his record of achievements and victories when the winner of the 2023 African Player of the Year award is unveiled at the best awards ceremony on the African continent. , which is hosted by the Moroccan city of Marrakesh the day after tomorrow, Monday.

After winning the African Player of the Year award in 2017 and 2018, the Faroese national team captain is hoping to win the African Player of the Year award for the third time.

Salah, who has won many prestigious awards in his football career including England Player of the Year twice and English Premier League top scorer three times, wants to regain the Africa Player of the Year award after being satisfied. In the last two editions Senegalese Sadio Mane finished second behind his former team-mate at Liverpool and player… current Saudi triumph.

Salah is aiming to equal the achievements of two African football legends, Liberian George Wway and Ghanaian Abedi Pele, who have won the African Player of the Year award three times, hoping to approach the record for most players to have won the award. Hosted by retired Cameroonian stars Samuel Eto’o and Ivorian Yaya Toure, 4. Nicknames for each.

Salah’s brilliance contributed to his inclusion in the list of candidates for the 2023 Ballon d’Or awarded by the famous French magazine France Football, where he was ranked 11th overall for the award. Maybe that’s the reason for his late status. For his team’s shocking results last season.

The award for the best player in Africa was known in the past as the (African Golden Ball) award, before it was organized for the first time by CAF in 1992, awarded by France Football.

Salah (31 years old) is the only Egyptian player to win the award since it was organized by CAF, but he is considered the second star from the Kenana country to receive it, after Egyptian footballer Mahmoud Al-Khatib. Legend and current president of Egyptian club Al-Ahly, which he previously won. There in 1983.

Osimhen is one step away from coronation

Nigerian player Victor Osimhen is one step away from winning the Ballon d’Or for Africa’s best player. Osimhen is competing for the award alongside Liverpool’s English winger Egyptian Mohamed Salah and Paris Saint-Germain’s French right-back Aghraf Hakimi.

Osimhen proved beyond doubt that he deserves to be on the shortlist for the African Player of the Year award after an exceptional season during which he led his side Napoli to their first ever Italian league title. 33 years.

Osimhen, who celebrates his twenty-fifth birthday on December 29, scored 26 goals in 32 matches in the Italian league last season, returning the local title to Napoli’s Cajana after a long hiatus.

The brilliant Nigerian star achieved two historic feats with Napoli as he became the African player to score the most goals in a single season in the Italian league, as well as the African scorer in the history of the competition, in Italian history. League with a total of 56 goals in 4 seasons, he spent within the walls of Naples.

Osimhene’s success extends to the Nigerian national team in 2023 after he topped the African Cup of Nations qualifiers with 10 goals, leading the Eagles to next month’s continental championship hosted by Ivory Coast. Top group in the qualifiers with 15 points from five wins to one loss.

Osimhen finished eighth in France Football magazine’s Ballon d’Or list for the world’s best player this year, becoming the first Nigerian player to enter the list of top ten players worldwide.

Osimhene, who is hoping to become the first Nigerian player to win the African Player of the Year award in 24 years, was crowned by the Italian Players Association as the best player in the Italian league, especially since legend Nwankwo Kanu achieved the same feat in 1999. A few days ago.

Hakimi’s remarkable intelligence

He is considered Moroccan Ashraf HakimiParis Saint-Germain’s Frenchman is among the most prominent winners of the African Player of the Year award for the first time in his career after his remarkable brilliance last season.

Hakimi deserves to be on the shortlist announced by CAF to win the award in light of his performances with his country’s national team and his French club last season.

Hakimi led the Moroccan national team to fourth place at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year, the first time an Arab or African team reached the semi-finals.

Despite playing as a right-back, he scored the final penalty kick against Spain in the Round of 16 to send Morocco to the quarter-finals and put his stamp on the World Cup.

Hakimi helped his country’s national team reach the finals of the African Nations Championship in Cote d’Ivoire early next year after Morocco finished first in Group Eleven in the qualifiers.

Not only has Hakimi shone at the international level, he and his teammates at Paris Saint-Germain won the French league title for the second time in a row and the eleventh time in its history last season.

In general, Hakimi played 39 matches at the club’s Championship level last season, in which he scored five goals and provided six assists.

As confirmed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the winner of the award will be decided after a 4-party vote. A special committee consisting of the first CAF technical team, the second media professionals, the third coaches and captains of the member teams of the Confederation of African Football, and the fourth coaches and captains. Clubs participating in the group stage of CAF club competitions.

A.H./A.J.M. (AP, DPA)