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The BBC African Sports Personality of the Year (previously known as the BBC African Sports Star of the Year and the BBC African Footballer of the Year) was an annual award given to the best African sports personality of the year as voted by the BBC radio listeners. Voting was done via SMS and online.

History

Initially a sports award, the inaugural winner was Ghana's Abedi Pele in 1992. The only non-footballers to win the award was track and field athlete Frankie Fredericks in 1993, and long-distance track and road running athlete Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia, in 1998. The Zambia national football team were posthumous winners of the award in 1994, following the plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean a year previous. The award became centred around football from 2001 onwards, Cameroon's Patrick M'Boma was the last person to win it as a sports award.

Nigeria's Nwankwo Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha, as well as the Ivory Coast's Yaya Touré and Egypt's Mohamed Salah are the only players to win the award more than once, with two wins.

In 2019, the award was changed back to its initial concept and renamed as the BBC African Sports Personality of the Year to reflect the balance between gender, disability and variety of sports on offer. However there were no awards in 2019 and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, after it was returned back to the sports award, Christine Mboma became the first person to win the award for 2021 season.

The award was discontinued after 2022.

Winners

Year	Winner	Football club(s)	Ref.
1992	Abedi Pele	Marseille
1993	Frankie Fredericks	—
1994	Zambia national football team	—
1995	George Weah	Milan
1996	Emmanuel Amuneke	Sporting CP Barcelona
1997	Nwankwo Kanu	Internazionale
1998	Haile Gebrselassie	—
1999	Nwankwo Kanu (2)	Arsenal
2000	Patrick M'Boma	Cagliari Parma
2001	Samuel Kuffour	Bayern Munich
2002	El Hadji Diouf	Lens Liverpool
2003	Jay-Jay Okocha	Bolton Wanderers
2004	Jay-Jay Okocha (2)	Bolton Wanderers
2005	Mohamed Barakat	Al Ahly
2006	Michael Essien	Chelsea
2007	Emmanuel Adebayor	Arsenal
2008	Mohamed Aboutrika	Al Ahly
2009	Didier Drogba	Chelsea
2010	Asamoah Gyan	Sunderland
2011	André Ayew	Marseille
2012	Christopher Katongo	Henan Construction
2013	Yaya Touré	Manchester City
2014	Yacine Brahimi	Granada Porto
2015	Yaya Touré (2)	Manchester City
2016	Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City
2017	Mohamed Salah	Roma Liverpool
2018	Mohamed Salah (2)	Liverpool
2021	Christine Mboma	—

Wins by country

Nation	Winners
Nigeria	5
Ghana	5
Egypt	4
Ivory Coast	3
Zambia	2
Algeria	2
Namibia	2
Liberia	1
Cameroon	1
Ethiopia	1
Senegal	1
Togo	1

Wins by club

Club	Winners
Liverpool	3
Marseille	2
Chelsea	2
Al Ahly	2
Manchester City	2
Arsenal	2
Bolton Wanderers	2
Bayern Munich	1
Internazionale	1
Barcelona	1
Cagliari	1
Leicester City	1
Milan	1
Granada	1
Henan Construction	1
Sporting CP	1
Sunderland	1
Porto	1
Roma	1
Lens	1
Parma	1

See also

• African Footballer of the Year

References

1. "BBC Africa relaunches African Sports Personality Of The Year 2021". BBC. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
2. ^ Edwards, Piers (12 January 2022). "History of the BBC African Footballer of the Year award". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
3. ^ "Mboma wins BBC African Sports Personality of the Year". BBC Sport. 7 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
4. "Mboma wins top BBC award". BBC Sport. 20 February 2001. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
5. "Kuffour named BBC African Player of the Year". BBC Sport. 4 January 2002. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
6. "Diouf scoops award". BBC Sport. 1 April 2003. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
7. "Okocha wins BBC award". BBC Sport. 9 January 2004. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
8. "Okocha retains BBC's Africa award". BBC Sport. 7 January 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
9. "Essien wins BBC African award". BBC Sport. 5 January 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
10. "Adebayor wins BBC player award". BBC Sport. 20 February 2001. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
11. "Aboutrika triumphs in BBC poll". BBC Sport. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
12. "Drogba wins BBC African Footballer of the Year award". BBC Sport. 8 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
13. "Ghana's Asamoah Gyan is named as 2010 BBC winner". BBC Sport. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
14. "Andre 'Dede' Ayew named BBC African Footballer of 2011". BBC Sport. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
15. "Christopher Katongo thanks fans after winning BBC award". BBC Sport. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
16. "Yaya Toure named 2013 BBC African Footballer of the Year". BBC Sport. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
17. "Brahimi wins BBC African Footballer of the Year award 2014". BBC Sport. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
18. "Yaya Toure wins BBC African Footballer of the Year award 2015". BBC Sport. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
19. "Riyad Mahrez wins BBC African Footballer of the Year 2016 award". BBC Sport. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
20. "Mohamed Salah named BBC African Footballer of the Year". BBC Sport. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
21. "Mohamed Salah named BBC African Footballer of the Year 2018". BBC Sport. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.

External links

• BBC African Sports Personality of the Year at BBC Online

• Confederation of African Football trophies and awards
• BBC Radio
• BBC World Service
• BBC awards
• African football trophies and awards
• Association football player of the year awards