Mohamed Salah named Africa's top player

Mohamed Salah was crowned African footballer of the year on Thursday night at a lavish ceremony in Accra. The 25-year-old finished ahead of Liverpool teammate Sadio Mané and Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng.

Mohamed Salah has been in sensational form for Liverpool since his move from Roma. Reuters/Phil Noble

Salah is the first Egyptian to win the Confederation of African football's most prestigious individual accolade since Mahmoud al Khatib in 1983.

"Winning this award is a dream come true," he said after collecting the trophy. "2017 was an unbelievable year for me I had a fantastic time with the national team. This is a big award for me, a special moment in my career. I would like to dedicate it to all the kids in Africa and Egypt. I want to tell them to never stop dreaming, never stop believing."

Since his 39 million euro move from Roma to Liverpool last summer, Salah has scored 23 goals in 29 matches in all competitions this season for the English Premier League outfit.

He also starred for Egypt, who finished runners-up to Cameroon at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations and he was an integral part of the team that secured a first World Cup appearance since 1990. Egypt won the team of the year award for the twin exploits.

Unsurprisingly, the Egypt boss, Hector Cuper, was named coach of year. In other categories, Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria was voted the women's footballer of the year and Patson Daka from Zambia was hailed as the youth player of the year.

South Africa claimed the prize as the best women's national team and Wydad Casablanca were voted club of the year.