Senegalese and Bayern Munich star Sadio Mane has been awarded the first-ever Socrates Award for his charityworks in his home country.
Mane, 30, clinched the award at the 2022 Ballon d’Or award ceremony which held in Paris on Monday.
“The Socrates Prize identifies the best social initiative by committed champions,” organisers of the award France Football Magazine said.
The prize is named after the footballer Socrates, who co-founded the Corinthians Democracy Movement in opposition to the ruling military government in the 1980s in Brazil.
The Bayern Munich forward has built a public hospital and funded schools and families in his home village of Bambali in recent years and also donated to the Senegalese National Committee to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mane, who is the reigning African Footballer of the Year, was also named the second-best player in the world after an impressive 2021/22 season.
He won the African Cup of Nations with Senegal, the domestic cups with Liverpool, and reached the UEFA Champions League final which Liverpool lost 1-0 to Real Madrid.
