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Sport AfricaBriefFootball Checked story Published 4 November 2026 · Updated 4 Nov, 14:30 UTC

CAF Awards 2026 men's shortlists: Hakimi, Mané and Amad lead the Player of the Year ten — and no Nigerian is on it

CAF has unveiled its men's shortlists for the 2026 CAF Awards, with the Player of the Year ten led by the reigning winner, Morocco's Achraf Hakimi, former winner Sadio Mané of Senegal and Ivory Coast's Amad Diallo. Morocco and Senegal supply three nominees each, Ghana's Antoine Semenyo is also on the list — and there is no Nigerian on it: Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman, the winners in 2023 and 2024, are both omitted, and Egypt's Mohamed Salah misses the list for the first time since 2015. The winners will be announced at the CAF Awards ceremony in Lagos on Monday 7 December.

Achraf Hakimi playing for Morocco in June 2026 (file photo)
Photo: Bryan Berlin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · (File photo — not from this match)
Verified CAF's ten nominees for the 2026 Men's Player of the Year award, announced on Wednesday 4 November, are: Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Yoane Wissa (DR Congo), Antoine Semenyo (Ghana), Ismaël Saibari, Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Díaz (Morocco), Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye and Sadio Mané (Senegal), and Teboho Mokoena (South Africa). Morocco and Senegal lead the list with three nominees each.

Key points

  • The Player of the Year ten: Hakimi, Díaz and Saibari (Morocco); Mané, Sarr and Gueye (Senegal); Amad (Ivory Coast), Wissa (DR Congo), Semenyo (Ghana) and Mokoena (South Africa).
  • No Nigerian is nominated — Osimhen (2023 winner) and Lookman (2024 winner) are both left out — and Salah misses the list for the first time since 2015.
  • Hakimi, the reigning winner, seeks to retain his title; the winners are announced in Lagos on Monday 7 December.
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What happened

The men's lists complete the 2026 CAF Awards picture begun on Tuesday with the women's shortlists, carried on Vozia's live women's page — where Zambia's Barbra Banda and the Chawinga sisters lead the women's Player of the Year ten, also with no Nigerian nominated. The senior player awards are African football's top individual honours, and this year's two lists together mark a changing of the guard: the 2023 and 2024 men's winners absent, Salah's decade-long run ended, and the continent's 2025 AFCON podium — Morocco and Senegal — supplying six of the ten men's names between them.

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