BBC African Sports Personality of the Year

BBC African Sports Personality of the Year
Presented byBBC World Service
Formerly calledBBC African Sports Personality of the Year
BBC African Footballer of the Year
First awarded1992
Last awarded2021
Most recent winnerChristine Mboma
Television/radio coverage
NetworkBBC

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.[1] However there were no awards in 2019 and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] In 2022, after it was returned back to the sports award, Christine Mboma became the first person to win the award for 2021 season.[3]

The award was discontinued after 2022.

Winners

Mohamed Salah was named BBC African Sports Personality of the Year in 2017 and 2018
Year Winner Football club(s) Ref.
1992 Ghana Abedi Pele France Marseille [2]
1993 Namibia Frankie Fredericks — [2]
1994 Zambia Zambia national football team — [2]
1995 Liberia George Weah Italy Milan [2]
1996 Nigeria Emmanuel Amuneke Portugal Sporting CP
Spain Barcelona 		[2]
1997 Nigeria Nwankwo Kanu Italy Internazionale [2]
1998 Ethiopia Haile Gebrselassie — [2]
1999 Nigeria Nwankwo Kanu (2) England Arsenal [2]
2000 Cameroon Patrick M'Boma Italy Cagliari
Italy Parma 		[4]
2001 Ghana Samuel Kuffour Germany Bayern Munich [5]
2002 Senegal El Hadji Diouf France Lens
England Liverpool 		[6]
2003 Nigeria Jay-Jay Okocha England Bolton Wanderers [7]
2004 Nigeria Jay-Jay Okocha (2) England Bolton Wanderers [8]
2005 Egypt Mohamed Barakat Egypt Al Ahly [2]
2006 Ghana Michael Essien England Chelsea [9]
2007 Togo Emmanuel Adebayor England Arsenal [10]
2008 Egypt Mohamed Aboutrika Egypt Al Ahly [11]
2009 Ivory Coast Didier Drogba England Chelsea [12]
2010 Ghana Asamoah Gyan England Sunderland [13]
2011 Ghana André Ayew France Marseille [14]
2012 Zambia Christopher Katongo China Henan Construction [15]
2013 Ivory Coast Yaya Touré England Manchester City [16]
2014 Algeria Yacine Brahimi Spain Granada
Portugal Porto 		[17]
2015 Ivory Coast Yaya Touré (2) England Manchester City [18]
2016 Algeria Riyad Mahrez England Leicester City [19]
2017 Egypt Mohamed Salah Italy Roma
England Liverpool 		[20]
2018 Egypt Mohamed Salah (2) England Liverpool [21]
2021 Namibia Christine Mboma — [3]

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
England Liverpool 3
France Marseille 2
England Chelsea 2
Egypt Al Ahly 2
England Manchester City 2
England Arsenal 2
England Bolton Wanderers 2
Germany Bayern Munich 1
Italy Internazionale 1
Spain Barcelona 1
Italy Cagliari 1
England Leicester City 1
Italy Milan 1
Spain Granada 1
China Henan Construction 1
Portugal Sporting CP 1
England Sunderland 1
Portugal Porto 1
Italy Roma 1
France Lens 1
Italy Parma 1

See also

References

  1. ^ "BBC Africa relaunches African Sports Personality Of The Year 2021". BBC. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Edwards, Piers (12 January 2022). "History of the BBC African Footballer of the Year award". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b "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.