LONDON – Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been voted the overall winner of this year’s BBC African Footballer of the Year Award for the second year running.
This year, Salah beat Morocco’s Medhi Benatia, Ghanaian Thomas Partey, and Senegalese duo Kalidou Koulibaly and Sadio Mané.
Salah said: “It's a great feeling – I would like to win it also next year so I’m looking forward to it from now. It's a great feeling to win another award two years in a row.”
Salah is the first player to retain the award since Nigeria's Jay-Jay Okocha in 2004.
The 26-year-old started 2018 as strongly as he finished 2017, scoring another 21 goals to end his debut campaign at Anfield with an incredible haul of 44 in 52 appearances. This helped the Reds reach the Champions League final and led to a host of personal accolades, including the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year.
In April, former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard even described Salah as the "best player on the planet right now".
“I try to push myself every day, to help the team win something,” added Salah, who has become the third player to win the award twice after Yaya Toure in 2015 and Jay-Jay Okocha.