Mohamed Salah won African Player of the Year, a reward for success on all fronts in 2017 for the Egypt forward after he inspired his country to a long-awaited World Cup place and had a phenomenal start to his spell at Liverpool.

Salah won ahead of his Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mané of Senegal and the Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the other finalists at the Confederation of African Football awards ceremony in Accra, Ghana.

Salah, 25, had a memorable year, first as part of the Egypt team that made the Africa Cup of Nations final in February. He was then joint top-scorer in the final round of qualifiers as Egypt reached the World Cup for the first time since 1990.

He has had a stunning first half of the season at Liverpool with 17 goals in 21 league games and 23 in 29 in all competitions, justifying Liverpool’s decision to break the club’s transfer record and pay £36.9m to buy him from Roma in the summer.

Although Egypt lost in the Africa Cup of Nations final to Cameroon, the team were back in the tournament after seven years without qualifying. Salah was a pivotal part of the revival.

He scored five goals in six games in the decisive qualifying round as Egypt sealed their place at the World Cup in Russia. Salah scored both goals, including the injury-time winner, in the 2-1 win over Congo in October that sealed Egypt’s place in Russia.

“It was very difficult to explain that moment to qualify to the World Cup after 28 years,” he said at the awards ceremony in Ghana. “And to have a great season with the clubs, with Roma and Liverpool. This award is a big award for me … it’s a special moment for me in my career.”

Mané finished second after a third-place finish last year. Aubameyang was third. He won African Player of the Year in 2014 and has been one of the three finalists for the last four years.

The award is traditionally voted for by the head coaches or technical directors of all Africa’s national teams. This is the first year CAF allowed captains of those teams to also vote.

Salah’s victory capped a clean sweep of the three main African football awards for Egypt. They won team of the year and their manager, Héctor Cúper, Africa’s coach of the year.