CAN 2025: The best players from each edition

AFCON 03 December 2025 at 09:20

Imed Ben Amara

News Editor

Several players have left their mark in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations by winning the best player award.

Three players have achieved this remarkable feat twice: the Egyptian Ad-Diba (1957, 1959), Cameroonian legend Roger Milla (1986, 1988), and Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan (2006, 2010).

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Here are the best players from each edition:

1957: Ad-Diba (Egypt)

1959: Ad-Diba (Egypt)

1962: Mengistu Worku (Ethiopia)

1963: Hassan Al Shazly (Egypt)

1965: Osei Kofi (Ghana)

1968: Mwamba Kazadi (DR Congo)

1970: Laurent Pokou (Ivory Coast)

1972: François M'Pelé (Congo)

1974: Mutumbula (Zaire)

1976: Ahmed Faras (Morocco)

1978: Karim Abdul Razak (Ghana)

1980: Christian Chukwu (Nigeria)

1982: Fawzi Al-Issawi (Libya)

1984: Théophile Abega (Cameroon)

1986: Roger Milla (Cameroon)

1988: Roger Milla (Cameroon)

1990: Rabah Madjer (Algeria)

1992: Abedi Pelé (Ghana)

1994: Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria)

1996: Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia)

1998: Benedict McCarthy (South Africa)

2000: Lauren (Cameroon)

2002: Rigobert Song (Cameroon)

2004: Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria)

2006: Ahmed Hassan (Egypt)

2008: Hosni Abd Rabo (Egypt)

2010: Ahmed Hassan (Egypt)

2012: Chris Katongo (Zambia)

2013: Jonathan Pitroipa (Burkina Faso)

2015: Christian Atsu (Ghana)

2017: Christian Bassogog (Cameroon)

2019: Ismaël Bennacer (Algeria)

2021: Sadio Mané (Senegal)

2023: William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria)

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