Five Serie A players past and present have been included in the CAF Team of the Year for 2023, including Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, who was crowned the Mens’ Player of the Year on Monday evening.
The African federations’ annual awards, which have been running since 1970 , took place in Morocco on Monday evening, with Osimhen in attendance having missed Napoli training in order to attend the event.
The Napoli striker was picked as the best African centre-forward in the 2023 Team of the Year, flanked by Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah and his former teammate Sadio Mane.
Osimhen’s Napoli teammate Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa has also been included among the midfielders in this year’s selection for his role in Napoli’s Scudetto win in 2022-23.
Zambo Anguissa has been named alongside former Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, who joined Manchester United from La Viola at the very end of the summer transfer window. Arsenal’s Thomas Partey and West Ham’s Mohamed Kudus also make the cut in midfield.
Ex-Inter stopper Andre Onana has been chosen as the goalkeeper for the 2023 Team of the Year, although former Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bouno won the individual goalkeeping award.
There was also room for former Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, although his inclusion was based on performances with Chelsea and Al-Hilal rather than with the Partenopei.
CAF Team of the Year: Onana (Manchester United/Inter); Hakimi (PSG), Mbemba (Marseille), Koulibaly (Al-Hilal/Chelsea); Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Zambo Anguissa (Napoli), Kudus (West Ham/Ajax), Amrabat (Manchester United/Fiorentina); Salah (Liverpool), Osimhen (Napoli), Mane (Al-Nassr/Bayern Munich).