Liverpool could not contain their excitement as Mohamed Salah is back in the spotlight again, and honestly, it’s no surprise to anyone who watched him this year and last season.
Softfootball reported that the Egyptian forward has been named in the final three for the 2025 CAF Men’s Player of the Year award, standing alongside Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, two players who also had pretty huge seasons of their own. Liverpool announced the players’ latest recognition in a post made via their official X account.
They posted:
For Salah, who is now 32 and still playing like he’s got something to prove, this nomination pretty much sums up what has been a massive year. His performances were a big part of why Liverpool managed to clinch the 2024/25 Premier League title, their 20th, which is wild for Liverpool fans given the team’s recent struggle. The amount of backlash the Egyptian has suffered for his struggles this season even prompted Rio Ferdinand to come to his defence.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, he quietly climbed up to become the club’s third-highest goalscorer ever. Not bad for a guy some people thought was slowing down.
He also delivered for Egypt when it mattered. During the World Cup qualifiers, he stepped up with the sort of calm finishing and leadership that has become almost normal for him, pushing the Pharaohs into the 2026 FIFA World Cup. You could literally see how much the team leaned on him.
The shortlist originally had 10 players, but CAF trimmed it down to these three. Hakimi impressed with his rock-solid defensive work and played a key role in PSG winning the Champions League. Osimhen, on his part, had a crazy-good season with Galatasaray and helped drive Nigeria into the World Cup playoffs.
The winner will be announced on November 19 in Rabat, Morocco, during the 2025 CAF Awards, the night African football basically celebrates everything good the continent produced between January and mid-October of 2025.
This is Salah’s sixth time in the final three. He already won it in 2017, 2018, and 2021 and finished second a couple of times. If he wins again, he’ll tie Samuel Eto’o with four titles, which honestly would be a fitting chapter in a career that doesn’t seem done surprising people.
