BBC African Footballer of the Year


The BBC African Footballer of the Year is an annual award given to the best African footballer of the year as voted by the BBC radio listeners. Voting is done via SMS and online.

History

Initially a sports award, the inaugural winner was Ghana's Abedi Pele in 1992. The only non-footballers to win the award was track and field athlete Frankie Fredericks in 1993, and long-distance track and road running athlete Haile Gebrselassie in 1998. The Zambia national football team were posthumous winners of the award in 1994, following the plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean a year previous. The award became centred around football from 2001 onwards, Cameroon's Patrick M'Boma was the last person to win it as a sports award.
Nigeria's Nwankwo Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha, as well as the Ivory Coast's Yaya Touré and Egypt's Mohamed Salah are the only players to win the award more than once, with two wins.

Winners

YearWinnerClubReference
1992 Abedi Pele Marseille
1993 Frankie FredericksN/A
1994 Zambia national football teamN/A
1995 George Weah Milan
1996 Emmanuel Amuneke Sporting CP
Barcelona
1997 Nwankwo Kanu Internazionale
1998 Haile GebrselassieN/A
1999 Nwankwo Kanu Arsenal
2000 Patrick M'Boma Cagliari
Parma
2001 Samuel Kuffour Bayern Munich
2002 El Hadji Diouf Lens
Liverpool
2003 Jay-Jay Okocha Bolton Wanderers
2004 Jay-Jay Okocha Bolton Wanderers
2005 Mohamed Barakat Al Ahly
2006 Michael Essien Chelsea
2007 Emmanuel Adebayor Arsenal
2008 Mohamed Aboutrika Al Ahly
2009 Didier Drogba Chelsea
2010 Asamoah Gyan Sunderland
2011 André Ayew Marseille
2012 Christopher Katongo Henan Construction
2013 Yaya Touré Manchester City
2014 Yacine Brahimi Granada
Porto
2015 Yaya Touré Manchester City
2016 Riyad Mahrez Leicester City
2017 Mohamed Salah Roma
Liverpool
2018 Mohamed Salah Liverpool

Wins By Country

Wins By Club