HOME > NEWS > YAYA TOURE WINS AFRICAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Yaya Toure wins African Footballer of the Year award

Yaya Toure is Africa's best in 2011

Posted: 2011-12-22 23:49

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure was the big winner at the Caf Awards in Ghana after being named as African Footballer of the Year for 2011.

Toure, who has also been one of the outstanding players for Manchester City, edged out Ghanaian Andrew Ayew and Seydou Keita of Mali to the award.

South Africa's two nominess on the night, national women's player Nompumlelo Nyandeni and the Banyana Banyana team unfortunately didn't come away with the awards in their categories.

However, our near neighbours Botswana won the national team of the year category, folowing their fairytale qualification for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

Meanwhile, in the night's other awards the winners were as follows:
African-based Player of the Year: Oussame Darragi (Tunisia)
National Team of the Year: Botswana
Women's National Team of the Year: Cameroon
Club of the Year: Esperance ST (Tunisia – Caf Champions League winners)
*Most Promising Talent: Souleymane Coulibaly (Ivory Coast and Tottenham Hotspur)
Coach of the Year: Harouna Doula (Niger)
Women's Footballer of the Year: Perpetua Nkwocha (Nigeria)
Referee of the Year: Noumandiez Doue (Ivory Coast)
Special recognition – Legend: Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha (Nigeria) and Mustapha Hadji (Morocco)

*Read more about Coulibaly and other promising African players in the latest edition of KICK OFF, on sale now.

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alu : 2011-12-23 00:51

He derseves it. Well done

zwai : 2011-12-23 06:52

This award has been given on merit! Ayew can wait few years at list. Yaya is the best player for mancity, even his salary justifies it. Also at present he is the best midfielder for me in england

TP : 2011-12-23 07:53

I also think he deserves it as he has been influential at Man City.Seydou Keita has been a part player since Cardiola took over & I think there has been some African players who played regularly those that could have been nominated i.e Kevin Prince Boateng,Adebayor when at loan to Madrid.Lastly Ayew will just have to keep working & to be a real contender for this award he might need a new challenge,a new team at a new country:England or Spain.

Diehardbucs : 2011-12-23 08:13

At least thank you to CAf for sellecting the right & deserving candidate.Hope he wl help his country lift the nations cup.Though im a South African,i love SE.

Diehardbucs : 2011-12-23 08:15

At least thank you to CAf for sellecting the right & deserving candidate.Hope he wl help his country lift the nations cup.Though im a South African,i love SE.

Oka : 2011-12-23 08:19

Yakubu deserved it !

Tolly.ba.Thathe : 2011-12-23 08:22

Good and well deserving choice. For us we continue to be laughing stock.

Maybe Shabba could have been selected, what do you think Makhosikazis? Lol.

Aya : 2011-12-23 08:23

My favourite player from the Elephants since 2006 . it's amazing to see just how agile and skilful he is for one in such a huge frame . He's scored some vital goals for City this campaign, certainly well deserved.

TP : 2011-12-23 08:25

Oka!R u serious?Yakubu has frustrating performance at Everton until his switch to Bolton,a team that is not dominating tabloid headlines.Can u please substantiate ur reason/s?

Amkhosi : 2011-12-23 08:27

Ayew should hv won it yaya toure s team nd national team ar jst lyk rats dy ply skopo donor fut bal nd dy win by fluke with hlp 4rm refs

TP : 2011-12-23 08:46

Correction,Yakubu is @ Blackburn Rovers.

sekunjalo: 2011-12-23 09:02

he is da best......he derseves it he just play simple football but he is amazing well done bhuti

Halejoetsoe: 2011-12-23 09:10

HE DESERVES IT. AN ALL ROUNDA IN THE MID FIELD, I LIKE THAT TYPE OF PLAY!!!
I THINK IF EXPOSED IN TIME LUCKY 'YAYA' BALOYI WILL FOLLOW THE FOOTSTEPS, THEIR PLAY IS VERY SIMILOR!!!

IT'S JUST I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THESE AGENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE TYPE OF DISPLAY FROM THIS BOY IS RARE AND SUITS BIG LEAGUES IN EUROPE.

Menzi : 2011-12-23 09:18

Andre ayew deserves it mor he is the bst playa in da french leag 4me...i thnk ths award shuld b given on playa performanc nt on hw bg yo club is...ova the yrs bg club playas get 1st priority al da tym wich isnt fair

Skepe Mketule: 2011-12-23 09:21

Coach of the Year: Harouna Doula (Niger)

MXXXXXM NEVER WE WILL SEE COME NEXT MONTH , HOW CAN THIS THING THAT QUALIFIED THROUGH BACK DOORS BE COACH OF THE YR, HE DIDNT EVEN WIN ONE AWAY GAME, ALL THE GAMES HE WON WERE IN HIS BUTCH STADIUM NXAAAAH

Disco: 2011-12-23 10:09

Now this is my best player in Africa. Huge, quick and clever; I wish Cheik Tiote can also get to his best and compete with Yaya.

Sooper.: 2011-12-23 10:15

He made the best move to City & he deserves the salary he earns klaar..

@ Oka
Dont come with your Nigerian tendancies here baba...!

Bobby must us players futhi...!

Disco: 2011-12-23 10:18

Halejoetsoe: 2011-12-23 09:10 [ Report ]

Have to agree with you there. Each time I watch Baloyi, I just wish he was started a little bit earlier; especially immediately after Tsiki was retired.

I thought VV had flopped with Mathebula, but I see what his intentions were.

Im just a fan of this laaitie

Totalfootball : 2011-12-23 11:07

But Botswana coach Stan Tshosane is robbed,if his team can finish as the best in Africa why not him as the best coach!
You see this CAF thinks the best African are only West and North Africa!

JJ : 2011-12-23 11:29

@bafana@ plz address oka comments nt to display ur apathd,racist and xenophobk tendencies here okay? plz. @ oka: good comment bt i knw it ws just 1 of ur beautiful jokes?

Amkhosi : 2011-12-23 12:01

Eh rats moröns wn manyisa or majoro ply 4 bafana dey dnt represent rats or chiefs dy represent der milion of south africn les supprt dose hu ar selectd no matter wt team dy ply 4 u ar nt qualifd coaches stick 2 ur jop huntng nd taxi drivng let bra pitso d hs jop

Ab lala: 2011-12-23 12:58

Me thinks Yaya is d right pick but, i think dat Senegal player dat plays in d Geman legue (can someone pls remind me his name) shud have been given a look in....da

Game147: 2011-12-23 13:25

Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha, African Legend . Okocha should have won Caf award twice if not for Issa Hayoutu's theft. This award was mainly designed to compensate Okocha and millions of soccer fans who vehemently feel that Okocha was robbed twice.
Pepertua Nkwocha , the greatest African women player......that's very significant about a certain tribe.

Meanwhile, Yaya Toure deserves the award. Congrats to him.

And to Nkwocha and Okocha ( my icon), congrats and thanks for doing Nigeria proud. Nigeria needs to discover your replica in talent.

Up Africa , Up Naija.

ikechukwu: 2011-12-23 14:59

Technical Department faces re-organisation

THE executive board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is expected to name the former technical adviser of Ethiopian and Namibian national teams, Tom Saintfiet, as the new technical director of the Super Eagles when the board meets next Wednesday.

The Guardian learnt that the Belgian coach was chosen ahead of Roland Anderson, who was an assistant to Super Eagles’ former technical adviser, Lars Largerback, whose name was top on the four-man list submitted by the technical committee for consideration.

It was also gathered that the federation acknowledged that Anderson was the most favoured but it could not settle for the Swedish coach because of the manner his former boss, Largerback, abandoned the team immediately after its ouster from the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

The NFF executive committee is expected to meet in Abuja next Wednesday (the eve of the Annual General Meeting) slated for Kaduna, to announce the new technical director as well as Super Falcons’ coach.

Confirming the board meeting date yesterday in Abuja, the NFF Chief Media Officer, Ademola Olajire, told to The Guardian that the technical committee has forwarded its four-man list of preferred candidates for the executive committee to choose from, adding that the board would, at the meeting, announce the chosen candidate for the job.

“The technical committee has concluded its job on screening of the coaches that applied for the vacant technical director job and the list of the four recommended candidates has been forwarded to the executive committee, which is expected to meet on the eve of the December 29 Annual General Meeting in Kaduna,” he said. “So the choice of the federation will be announced on December 28.”

Meanwhile, it has been officially learnt that the NFF has concluded plans to fully reorganise the technical department with the coming of the new director, who is expected to resume job in January 2012.

A top official of the federation disclosed that the NFF has decided to recall former assistant director at the technical department, James Peters, who was sacked early this year, to work directly with the incoming foreign technical director, adding that the department would be fully overhauled as soon as the officers assume duties in January.

Amata Plus: 2011-12-23 18:33

Yaya Toure deserves the award as well as others, but Coulibally named most promising player. Yes, coulibally is promising. Most promising in 2011? I don't think so.

Ahmed Musa best suits the most promising tag. Compared to Coulibally, Ahmed played in the u20s, both the AYC and WYC, and did excellently well. After the world cup, he moved on and is the biggest talent at VVV Venlo in the Dutch league.

Coulibally, did well at the u17s world cup, moved to Tottenham and that was it! He hasn't hit the headlines since. He is promising no doubt, but certainly not the most promising!

By the way, how can CAF choose a player who played at a lower cadre over one that starred at a higher one and excelled? Maybe, CAF should henceforth pick u17 stars as P.O.T.Y!

luise-hero: 2011-12-23 20:23

so this mr editor finally saw a page on web to copy and paste ,,i thought probally he lost is laptop or ipad what-ever ,,
weak editor tommorow you hear people like this lazy editor are viaring for a post in nff nonsense

kassav2k: 2011-12-24 20:13

Even though I'm a Ghanaian I think Yahya deserves the award.However,Seidu Keita didn't deserve to be in the top three.

tuffymacca: 2011-12-25 01:00

Many ,many congratulations to Yaya ,the Ivorian man mountain 4 winning the CAF 2011 African player of year gong .The gr8 man truly desrved the accolade after a brilliant season with Man City &the Elephants.Well done black brotherman ,all the best in all your endeavours !

coache: 2011-12-25 05:59

Merry Christmas to all the soccer pundits in this forum. God bless you real good in Jesus name.

okoribe1: 2011-12-25 20:10

merry xmas all,alas not to u mr lazy editor,pounded yam n edikainko has made u the laziest man on earth.well i just read that schalke 04 has sign chinedu obasi on loan till the end of the season with an option to a permanent deal pending perfomance.he was initially frozen out of the hoffeinham team cos of disciplinary issues.mr udoh plz do ur job,merry xmas anyway.

Both an: 2011-12-26 01:14

What at all is wrong with this idiot editor? Better update us on sports news. Please lean from your colleagues.

dintshotsakabomo: 2011-12-29 09:06

@ Sam

its realy hurting to see people stil beliving that niger qualified thru backdoor; shame on u mr. the rules were ther well b4 the start of the competition and SA failed to read the rules; there z no corruption here, SA failed to qualify!!! if niger ddnt win a single away game hw many awy games has SA won to make it a desrving team to qualify frm that group. pleas no ur facts b4 ur paste ur comment.