Ghana’s Kamaldeen Sulemana is in the running to win the CAF Young Player of the Year award after he was included in the final shortlist put out by the Confederation of African Football on Monday.
Sulemana enjoyed a relatively good start to life in the French Ligue 1 after making 20 appearances for Rennes and scoring 4 while assisting two in the process.
He joined Rennes from Nordjsaelland from Denmark for about 20 million Euros and despite some injury challenges he faced, he was able to gain some good attention leading to his nomination for the CAF Award.
He will have to fight off competition from Dango Ouattara of Burkina Faso & Lorient, Karim Konate of Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg, Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz) and Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United).
The CAF Awards will be held in Rabat, Morocco on July 21 and according to CAF, “the winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, Head Coaches & Captains of Member Associations and clubs involved at the group stage of the Interclub competitions for the 2021/22 season.”
Here is the full nominations list from CAF:
Player of the Year (Men)
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)
Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Olympique Lyonnais)
Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr)
Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool)
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain)
Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)
Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich)
Interclub Player of the Year (Men)
Tiago Azulao (Petro Atletico)
Karim Konate (ASEC Mimosas)
Aliou Dieng (Al Ahly)
Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly)
Percy Tau (Al Ahly)
Mohamed Sherif (Al Ahly)
Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly)
Achraf Dari (Wydad Athletic Club)
Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club)
Zouheir El Moutaraji (Wydad Athletic Club)
Young Player of the Year (Men)
Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso & Lorient)
Karim Konate (Cote d’Ivoire & ASEC/RB Salzburg)
Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana & Rennes)
Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal & Metz)
Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia & Manchester United)
Coach of the Year (Men)
Carlos Queiroz (Egypt)
Pitso Mosimane (Al Ahly)
Tom Saintfiet (The Gambia)
Walid Regragui (Wydad Athletic Club)
Aliou Cisse (Senegal)
National Team of the Year
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Egypt
Morocco
Senegal
Club of the Year
Petro Atletico (Angola)
Al Ahly (Egypt)
RS Berkane (Morocco)
Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)
Orlando Pirates (South Africa)
