To Africa's best
Individual and team performance in African football in 2002 has been officially recognised.
Eric Asomugha covered the awards ceremony
It was all smiles on the faces of Egyptian football ambassadors as they stepped forward to receive their awards at the MTN/CAF ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa, dedicated to honouring Africa's best in the football world.
Ahmed Hossam, or Mido, former Ajax player, ex-property of Zamalek and recently loaned to Celtic Vigo of Spain, won the best Young Player of the Year award. The promising lad, who scored Egypt's 1-0 away winning goal against Malawi in last month's African Cup of Nations Group 10 qualifier, was also voted third best Africa footballer in 2002.
Zamalek won the best Club of the Year award. The Mit Okba-based club added one more title to their collection, having garnered the 2002 CAF Champions league title a record five times and the CAF Super Cup for the third time.
Overall, Zamalek have won more African titles than any other club on the continent when one Cup Winners Cup is added.
The only missing trophy is the CAF Cup, the least valued club level tournament. The third place finisher in each national league participates.
Egypt was nominated among the best in three other categories but narrowly missed the titles. Essam El-Hadari got a nomination for the best goalkeeper of the year, Walid Abdel- Latif of Zamalek for African Champions League best player, and another Zamalek player, Abdel-Halim Ali, for the best televised goal for a great away strike against Costa Do Sol of Mozambique in a 2002 Champions League match.
Winning two of the five nominations put Egypt in second place behind Senegal which scooped five of the 11 award categories.
As expected, Al-Hadji Diouf, Liverpool's point man and a key player in Senegal's surprise debut in the 2002 World Cup, won the Africa Footballer of the Year for the second consecutive year. Diouf became the third player in recent times after Abedi Pele Ayew of Ghana and Nigeria's Kanu Nwankwo to win the award in successive years.
Senegalese Tony Sylva won the goalkeeper of the year award, while compatriot Papa Bouba Diop won the best televised goal award for his fantastic shot against Uruguay in the World Cup .The coach of the year went to the Senegalese World Cup head Bruno Metsu who is on assignment with the Abu Dhabi-based Al-Ain club of the United Arab Emirates
Senegal won the team of the year. The Lions reached the final of the African Nations Cup for the first time and went on to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup, beating France in the process.
In the remaining categories, Mwade Wade of Senegal won the Merit Achievement Award, Ghana won the Youth Development Award, while Morocco's Hicham Aboucherouane of Raja Casablanca won the Best African Champions League Player. Alberta Sackey of Ghana won the Women's Player of the Year.
