Who are the three nominees for African Player of the Year and how good are Mo Salah’s chances

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Mohamed Salah swept the individual English awards last season after a stunning year with Liverpool.

The Egyptian secured a record-breaking third PFA Player of the Year award, while also winning both the Golden Boot and Playmaker of the Year trophies.

Nevertheless, Salah was overlooked once again for the Ballon d’Or, ultimately having to settle for a fourth-place finish.

Despite being a joint highest placing for the 33-year-old during his career, many felt that Salah deserved more.

Whether that is true or not, the Liverpool superstar will definitely finish higher in the 2025 African Player of the Year award having been included in Sunday’s reduced shortlist.

The list of nominees was cut down from 10 to just three, with Salah among the trio of hopefuls. With the award set to be handed out in Morocco on Wednesday, Rousing The Kop take a look at the Egyptian King’s chances of victory.

Mohamed Salah aiming to beat Victor Osimhen and Achraf Hakimi

Salah is arguably Africa’s greatest ever footballer after hitting some extraordinary heights during his Liverpool career.

This is backed up by the flying winger winning two previous African Player of the Year awards, in 2017 and 2018.

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Remarkably, Salah has not been crowned since that last award seven years ago, with the ceremony cancelled in 2020 and 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the meantime, former Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane won twice, with Victor Osimhen scooping the prize in 2023 and Achraf Hakimi last year.

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And it is those previous two winners who Salah will go up against this year. As confirmed on Sunday, the race will be between Salah, Osimhen and Hakimi.

Liverpool’s No. 11 may feel he has a strong chance after a brilliant year with the Reds, but the presence of Hakimi in particular may cause him some trouble.

Salah should be favourite to win another award

Given the raft of awards he scooped up in England last season, it would be fair if Salah were named the best player on his home continent to top things off.

However, Hakimi may have something to say about that. The right-back won a treble with PSG, even scoring in the Champions League final against former club Borussia Dortmund.

In all Hakimi made 48 appearances for PSG in 2024/25, scoring nine times and laying on 12 assists. He had a brilliant season, no doubt about that.

Osimhen deserves a mention too after scoring 37 goals and winning the Turkish league with Galatasaray.

Despite the excellence of Hakimi and Osimhen, though, none could match the exploits of Salah. It may be close in the end, but there should be little doubt that the Liverpool star deserves this win.