Messi wins 2019 Ballon D'or award, Mane fourth

Africa still waiting for the day an African player will win the Ballon D’or award after George Weah’s success in 1995. The 2019 edition was won by Argentine Lionel Messi. Sadio Mané came a distant fourth.

A whole continent was waiting for Sadio Mané or Mohamed Salah to cherish his dream of a second Golden Ball. But Africa’s hopes was dashed once again on Monday when the trophy was awarded to Lionel Messi during a ceremony held at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France. It was sixth Golden Ball won by the Barcelona striker, who surpassed his rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most award.

Worse, despite his exceptional season, Senegalese striker Sadio Mané failed to reach the podium while his Egyptian team-mate in Liverpool, Mohamed Salah, finished in fifth place in a highly talked about ranking. The podium was completed by the Dutchman Virgil Van Dijk and Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The group stage of CAF’s inter club tournaments kicked off over the weekend. First with the Champions League, which started last Saturday. The start of the tournament was marked in particular by the very fine performance of two-time defending champion. Esperance of Tunis, who defeated Raja Casablanca 2-0, and are already leading Group D thanks to a better goal difference ahead of JS Kabily, who also won at home by 1 goal to nil against AS Vita Club of DR Congo.

The group stage of the Confederation Cup also kicked off on Sunday. All the results are to be found on our website. The competition was an opportunity for the coach of Beninese club FC ESAE to outline their objective of participating in the Confederations cup. Egyptian club Pyramids FC are making waves in their maiden appearance in an African inter club competition by beating Enugu Rangers of Nigeria 3-2 at their own back yard