Mohamed Salah Wins 2017 CAF Footballer Of The Year Award

The “Egyptian Goal Machine”, Mohamed Salah, has been named the 2017 Confederation of African Football Player of the Year.

For the first time, the final phase of voting was opened up to the public, with Salah securing 97.65% of the vote.

The 25-year old has scored 17 Premier League goals this season and helped Egypt reach the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations final in 2017.

He finished ahead of Liverpool team-mate and Senegal winger Sadio Mane and Gabon striker Pierre-Eric Aubameyang.

Earlier rounds of voting for the award were decided by a mixture of Caf officials, independent journalists, national team coaches and captains, with the criteria for choosing a winner from the final three also including a public vote element.

Mane and Salah attended the ceremony in Ghana’s capital Accra, 24 hours before Friday’s FA Cup game against Everton, the latter ruled out with injury.

“Winning this award is a dream come true, 2017 was an unbelievable year for me,” Salah said after receiving the trophy.

“I would like to dedicate it to all the kids in Africa and Egypt, I want to tell them to never stop dreaming, never stop believing.”