CAF Awards 2022: Percy Tau makes Interclub Player of the Year final shortlist – How?!

CAF has released its final list of nominees for the men’s categories of the CAF Awards 2022, with some of the elite performers – and some not so much – in the last few months making the various lists.

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The CAF Awards 2022 will be held in Rabat, Morocco on Thursday, 21 July 2022.

The list includes reigning CAF African Player of the Year Sadio Mane (Senegal and Bayern Munich), former winner Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Manchester City) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool), among others.

One of the highly contested categories is that of the CAF Coach of the Year, where Aliou Cisse, Pitso Mosimane, Carlos Queiroz, Tom Saintfiet and Walid Regragui have made the final cut.

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The women’s categories final shortlist will be announced in due course.

The Player of the Year and Interclub Player of the Year categories have 10 nominees each, whist the Young Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, National Team of the Year and Club of the Year contain just five nominees each.

On that 10-player Interclub Player of the Year list is South Africa’s Percy Tau.

It’s somewhat baffling to see the Bafana Bafana star’s name among the 10 best considering the amount of criticism – and lack of goals – the 28-year-old has scored and endured.

The list contains no fewer than five Al Ahly players and three from CAF Champions League winners Wydad Athletic Club.

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The winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, head coaches & captains of member associations and clubs involved at the group stage of the Interclub competitions for the 2021/22 season.

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Full shortlist of CAF category nominees:

Player of the Year (Men)

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)

Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Olympique Lyonnais)

Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr)

Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax)

Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)

Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool)

Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain)

Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea)

Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)

Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich)

Interclub Player of the Year (Men)

Tiago Azulao (Petro Atletico)

Karim Konate (ASEC Mimosas)

Aliou Dieng (Al Ahly)

Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly)

Percy Tau (Al Ahly)

Mohamed Sherif (Al Ahly)

Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly)

Achraf Dari (Wydad Athletic Club)

Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club)

Zouheir El Moutaraji (Wydad Athletic Club)

Young Player of the Year (Men)

Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso & Lorient)

Karim Konate (Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg)

Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana & Rennes)

Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz)

Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United)

Coach of the Year (Men)

Carlos Queiroz (Egypt)

Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly)

Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia)

Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club)

Aliou Cisse (Senegal)

National Team of the Year

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Egypt

Morocco

Senegal

Club of the Year

Petro Atletico (Angola)

Al Ahly (Egypt)

RS Berkane (Morocco)

Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)

Orlando Pirates (South Africa)