List of African Player of the Year award winners in history

Victor Osimhen is currently the men’s reigning champion.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will announce the 2024 African Player of the Year award on 16th December. However when the CAF revealed the list it was met with plenty of controversy as many key names such as Mohamed Salah and Bayer Leverkusen forward Victor Boniface missed out on a nomination.

Following their impressive performance for their clubs respectively both failed to make an impression for their national team during the African Cup of Nations.

The CAF has revealed the final five players who will contend for the award on 16th December and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Simon Adingra and Ademola Lookman of Atalanta will be among the front-runners to take the prize home.

Adingra’s brace in the AFCON that saw Ivory Coast win the trophy will be a decider for the player to win the award, meanwhile, Lookman netted a hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final to lead Atalanta to the silverware will also be crucial in his run for the award.

Meanwhile, the other three finalists are South African Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns), Moroccan Achraf Hakimi (PSG) and Guinean Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund). They will provide a tough competition to Adingra and Lookman for the prize.

But over the years there have been other African players, who have taken the award home and in this article, we take a look at those African players who have lifted the award.

List of African Men’s Player of the Year award winners

Year	Winner	National team
1992	Abedi Pele	Ghana
1993	Rashid Yekini	Nigeria
1994	Emmanuel Amunike	Nigeria
1995	George Weah	Liberia
1996	Nwankwo Kanu	Nigeria
1997	Victor Ikpeba	Nigeria
1998	Mustapha Hadji	Morocco
1999	Nwankwo Kanu	Nigeria
2000	Patrick M’Boma	Cameroon
2001	El Hadji Diouf	Senegal
2002	El Hadji Diouf	Senegal
2003	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon
2004	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon
2005	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon
2006	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast
2007	Frederic Kanoute	Mali
2008	Emmanuel Adebayor	Togo
2009	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast
2010	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon
2011	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast
2012	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast
2013	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast
2014	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast
2015	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Gabon
2016	Riyad Mahrez	Algeria
2017	Mohamed Salah	Egypt
2018	Mohamed Salah	Egypt
2019	Sadio Mane	Senegal
2020 (Awards not held due to COVID-19)	—	—
2021 (Awards not held due to COVID-19)	—	—
2022	Sadio Mane	Senegal
2023	Victor Osimhen	Nigeria

List of African Women’s Player of the Year award winners

Among the Women’s African Player of the Year winners, Asisat Oshoala has dominated the award-winning prize five times, and below there are other winners.

Year	Winner	National team
2001	Mercy Akide	Nigeria
2002	Alberta Sackey	Ghana
2003	Adjoa Bayor	Ghana
2004	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2005	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2006	Cynthia Uwak	Nigeria
2007	Cynthia Uwak	Nigeria
2008	Noko Matlou	Togo
2009	—	—
2010	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2011	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2012	Genoveva Anonma	Equatorial Guinea
2013	—	—
2014	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2015	Gaelle Enganamouit	Cameroon
2016	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2017	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2018	Thembi Kgatlana	South Africa
2019	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2020 (Awards not held due to COVID-19)	—	—
2021 (Awards not held due to COVID-19)	—	—
2022	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2023	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria

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