Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah was named African Player of the Year at the Confederation of African Football awards ceremony in Ghanaian capital Accra on Thursday.
Salah won ahead of his Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mané of Senegal and the Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang among other finalists
Salah becomes the first Egyptian to win the award since Mahmound al Khatib in 1983, AFP reports.
The 25-year-old has scored 23 goals in 29 matches in all competitions this season for the Premier League outfit after moving from AS Roma in the summer.
He also starred for resurgent Egypt, who last year finished runners-up to Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations and secured a first World Cup appearance since 1990.
“Winning this award is dreams come true — 2017 was an unbelievable year for me I had a fantastic time with the national team,” said Salah after receiving the trophy.
Salah dedicated the award to the kids in Africa and Egypt expressing how the award was a huge deal and special moment in his career.
Salah last December was also named BBC African Footballer of the Year and Arab player of the year earlier this week.
Other award winners included Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala who won Women’s Footballer of the Year, Zambia’s Patson Daka scooping the Youth player if the year award.
