Sadio Mane #10 of Senegal greeting the fansduring the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I match between Senegal and Iraq at Toronto Stadium. on June 26, 2026 in Toronto, Canada.
Sadio Mane #10 of Senegal greeting the fansduring the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group I match between Senegal and Iraq at Toronto Stadium. on June 26, 2026 in Toronto, Canada.
Liverpool supporters still speak warmly about Sadio Mane. The Senegalese forward spent six seasons at Anfield and won six major honours with the club.
He scored 120 goals and provided 46 assists in 269 appearances after joining from Southampton in 2016.
Much of that success came alongside Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. The trio became a combined force at the start of 2017-18, after Salah arrived from Roma.
Together they scored 29 Champions League goals before the 2018 final, a record for a forward trio in a single campaign. Mane scored 10 goals in that competition as Liverpool lost the Kyiv final to Real Madrid.
Sadio Mane announced himself with a goal on his Liverpool debut, a 4-3 win at Arsenal in August 2016. In February 2018, he scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 Champions League win at Porto.
In March 2019, he scored twice in a 3-1 win at Bayern Munich in the last 16, opening the scoring and heading in the third. He lifted the trophy in Madrid that June.
His stoppage-time header at Aston Villa in November 2019 completed a 2-1 comeback. It came in the season Liverpool ended a 30-year wait for the league title.
His bond with the supporters went beyond goals.
In December 2020, he kept a promise to Liverpool fan Lee Swan, a volunteer at a community centre in Dingle.
After scoring against Crystal Palace and West Brom, he copied Swan’s celebration, kissing his fingers and pointing skywards in tribute to Swan’s late grandfather.
When he left in 2022, Mane said he would remain Liverpool’s “No.1 fan” and hoped to return to Anfield one day to say hello to the supporters.
Now Sadio Mane is back among the biggest names in the game as he is scheduled to attend the 2026 Ballon d’Or ceremony in London.
He is one of 30 nominees on the men’s shortlist, which France Football revealed on September 8. Mane, who plays for Al Nassr, is one of two Africans on the list, alongside Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi.
It is his fifth nomination. He finished 23rd in 2017, 22nd in 2018, fourth in 2019 and second in 2022. Karim Benzema won the 2022 award.
At 34, Mane returns to the shortlist for the first time since 2022. He scored 10 goals and made six assists in the Saudi league as Al Nassr won their first league title in seven years.
Mane was also named Player of the Tournament as Senegal won the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Senegal then reached the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup, where Belgium beat them 3-2 after extra time.
He is not the only Liverpool player that will be attending the award. Bayern Munich’s Luis Diaz is also expected to be in attendance after he was also nominated among the 30.
The 70th ceremony takes place tonight at the London Palladium. It is the first time the event has been held outside France, in tribute to the inaugural winner, England’s Stanley Matthews.
Nominees are expected to begin arriving on the red carpet at around 6:00 PM. The ceremony starts at 8:00 PM GMT. Thierry Henry and Kate Scott are the hosts.
Ousmane Dembele is the reigning men’s winner and is looking to become the 11th man to win the award twice or more. Journalists from the top 100 nations in the FIFA men’s ranking cast the votes.
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