Three Moroccans Among Candidates for African Player of the Year Award; Salah Absent

The list of nominees for the 2026 African Footballer of the Year award includes three Moroccan players: right-back Achraf Hakimi, last year’s winner, and forwards Ismaïla Sarr and Ibrahim Diallo, as announced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday.

The Moroccan trio shone for their national team at the Africa Cup of Nations finals hosted by Morocco late last year and early this year, reaching the final, which Senegal won 1-0. However, in March, CAF annulled the match result and awarded Morocco a 3-0 victory and the title.

The same Moroccan trio also excelled at the World Cup finals in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, when the Atlas Lions reached the quarter-finals. Sarr was their top scorer with three goals before suffering an injury in the match against the Netherlands.

Following his outstanding performance last season, Sarr moved to German club Bayern Munich in a major transfer, while Diallo plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and was a key figure in Morocco’s World Cup campaign. Hakimi won the UEFA Champions League for the second consecutive season with Paris Saint-Germain, along with the French Ligue 1 title.

The list also includes three Senegalese players: Villarreal midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, Al Nassr forward Sadio Mané, and Crystal Palace midfielder Idrissa Gueye, alongside Ivorian Amad Diallo (Manchester United), Congolese Yvan N’Guessi (Newcastle United), Ghanaian Antoine Semenyo (Manchester City), and South African Teboho Mokoena (Mamelodi Sundowns).

Former Liverpool star and current Trabzonspor international Egyptian Mohamed Salah was omitted from the list of nominees for the award, which he won in 2017 and 2018.

Moroccan coaches Walid Regragui and Mohamed Wahbi, and Egyptian coaches Hossam Hassan and Mostafa Kamal are competing for the Best Coach award alongside Cape Verdean Pedro Brito (“Bobby”), Frenchman Sébastien Desabre, Senegalese Babacar Tiao and Lamine Ndiaye, and Portuguese coaches Miguel Cardoso and Alexandre Santos.

Five Arab players are among ten contenders for the Best Goalkeeper award: Moroccans Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal) and Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (Raja CA); Egyptians Mostafa Shobair (Al Ahly) and Mehdi Soliman (Zamalek); and Algerian Osama Ben Bot (USM Alger).

The list also includes Fabinho from Cape Verde (Colo-Colo), Ivorian Yaya Fofana (Çaykur Rizespor), South African Ronwen Williams (Sundowns), Senegalese Édouard Mendy (Al Ahly Saudi), and Congolese Lionel Mbasi (Le Havre).

The race for the Best Young Player award is limited to four Arab players: Moroccans Ayoub El Kaabi (Manchester City) and Abdullah Zayan (Ajax); Algerian Ibrahim Mazigh (Bayer Leverkusen); and Egyptian Hamza Abdel Karim (Barcelona), alongside Senegalese Ibrahim Mbaye (Aston Villa), Ivorians Yann Deumié and Krist Inao Olay, Malian Ismaila Kamissoko (Étoile Filante de Ouagadougou), Ghanaian Caleb Yirenkyi (Coventry City), and Cameroonian Christiane Kofane (Bayer Leverkusen).

The list of ten nominees for the Best Domestic Player includes eight Arabs: Moroccans Mohamed Harim (Raja CA, currently playing with Al-Shamal in Qatar), Sufyan Al-Moudene (Olympique de Khouribga, currently playing with Hassania Agadir), and Munir Shouayr (Renaissance Berkane); Egyptians Mohamed Shata (Zamalek) and Mahmoud Hassan “Trezeguet” (Al Ahly, currently playing with Al-Riyadh in Saudi Arabia); Algerians Abdelnour Belhassen (ES Setif) and Ahmed Khaled (USM Alger); and Sudanese Abdul Raouf.

Yacoub Omar Taha (Al-Hilal), alongside South Africans Teboho Mokoena and Kolisi Modau (both of Sundowns). The national teams of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt were among the nominees for the Best National Team award, alongside Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. The award ceremony will be held in Lagos, Nigeria, on December 7 next year.