BBC African Sports Personality of the Year explained

BBC African Sports Personality of the Year
Presenter:	BBC World Service
Former Name:	BBC African Sports Personality of the Year BBC African Footballer of the Year
Year:	1992
Holder:	Christine Mboma
Holder Label:	Most recent winner
Network:	BBC

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 is 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. In 2022, after it was returned back to the sports award, Christine Mboma became the first person to win the award for 2021 season.^[2]

Winners

Year	Winner	Football club(s)	Ref.
1992	Abedi Pele	Marseille	^[3]
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		Arsenal
2000	Patrick M'Boma	Cagliari Parma	^[4]
2001	Samuel Kuffour	Bayern Munich	^[5]
2002	El Hadji Diouf	Lens Liverpool	^[6]
2003	Jay-Jay Okocha	Bolton Wanderers	^[7]
2004		Bolton Wanderers	^[8]
2005	Mohamed Barakat	Al Ahly
2006	Michael Essien	Chelsea	^[9]
2007	Emmanuel Adebayor	Arsenal	^[10]
2008	Mohamed Aboutrika	Al Ahly	^[11]
2009	Didier Drogba	Chelsea	^[12]
2010	Asamoah Gyan	Sunderland	^[13]
2011	André Ayew	Marseille	^[14]
2012	Christopher Katongo	Henan Construction	^[15]
2013	Yaya Touré	Manchester City	^[16]
2014	Yacine Brahimi	Granada Porto	^[17]
2015		Manchester City	^[18]
2016	Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City	^[19]
2017	Mohamed Salah	Roma Liverpool	^[20]
2018		Liverpool	^[21]
2021	Christine Mboma

Wins by country

Nation	Winners
	5
	5
	4
	3
	2
	2
	2
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1

Wins by club

Club	Winners
	3
	2
	2
	2
	2
	2
	2
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1

See also

• African Footballer of the Year

Notes and References

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