Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez has been named as the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) Player of the Year for 2016. The award caps a spectacular 12 months for the Algerian, who also won the BBC’s African Footballer of the Year and PFA Player of the Year in 2016.
Mahrez (with 361 votes) pipped Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (313 votes) and Liverpool’s Sadio Mane (186) to the award.
Other notable winners were Man City’s Kelechi Iheanacho (Most Promising Talent of the Year) and Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi (Young Player of the Year) Mamelodi Sundowns, Africa’s representatives at the Club World Cup in Japan, won the team of the year award.
Mahrez will now be off to Gabon to do national duty at AFCON 2017. Algeria are in Group B for that tournament along with Tunisia, Senegal and Zimbabwe.
Full List of CAF 2016 awards
Men’s National Team of the Year – Uganda
Women’s National Team of the Year – Nigeria
Club of the Year – Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)
Most Promising Talent of the Year – Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria)
Young Player of the Year – Alex Iwobi (Nigeria)
Coach of the Year – Pitso Mosimane (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Women’s Player of the Year – Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria)
Referee of the Year – Bakary Papa Gassama (Gambia)
African-based Player of the Year – Denis Onyango (Uganda)
Team of the Year – Denis Onyango (Uganda), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Eric Bailly (Ivory Coast), Aymen Abdennour (Tunisia), Joyce Lomalisa (DR Congo); Rainford Kalaba (Zambia), Khama Billiat (Zimbabwe), Keegan Dolly (South Africa), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Sadio Mane (Senegal)
Football Leader of the Year – Manuel Lopes Nascimento (Guinea-Bissau)