After being included on a three-person candidate list for the 2023 award alongside Achraf Hakimi and Victor Osimhen, Mohamed Salah will try to win three African Player of the Year honors.

Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez, two previous champions, were left off of Thursday’s shortlist because they relocated to Saudi Arabian teams this year.

Thembi Kgatlana and Barbra Banda are competing against record five-time champion Asisat Oshoala for the women’s prize.

The contenders were revealed by the Confederation of African Football before to Monday’s annual award presentation in Marrakech, Morocco.

Before his then-teammate Mane of Liverpool won the next two editions given for 2019 and 2022, Egypt’s great player Salah won back-to-back African honours for 2017 and ’18. Salah finished second the previous year.

Return of Paris Saint-Germain Hakimi was a key member of Morocco’s squad that advanced to the World Cup semifinals in 2022.

Napoli won their first Italian championship in thirty-three years last season thanks to the league-high 26 goals scored by Nigerian attacker Osimhen.

While Mahrez was a member of the Manchester City team that won the FA Cup, the English Premier League, and the Champions League, Mane had a challenging first season at Bayern Munich and was injured during the World Cup with Senegal.

When Mahrez assisted Leicester in winning an incredible English league championship in 2016, he was also named African Player of the Year.

In 2022, Oshoalawon won her fifth African women’s player of the year award. She then assisted her team Barcelona in winning the Women’s Champions League and qualified Nigeria for the Women’s World Cup.

Playing for Racing Louisville in the US, Kgatlana was a star for South Africa during the World Cup, while Banda captained Zambia during the competition held in Australia and New Zealand.