Twice Lucky! BBC names Toure African Player of the Year
Ivory Coast captain, Yaya Toure has been voted the BBC’s African Player of the Year, again.
He won the trophy for the first time in 2013. This win also makes him only the third player to have won the trophy twice. Nigerians Nwankwo Kanu and Austin Okocha have previously achieved the feat.
Yaya Toure captained captained the Ivorian national football team to the country’s first Nations Cup win in 23 years, February 2015.
He had to beat off competition from Algeria’s Yacine Brahimi, the 2014 winner, as well as Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ghanaian Andre Ayew and Senegal’s Sadio Mane in an African fan vote.
Yaya Toure told the BBC that winning the BBC African Footballer of the Year Award again was “unbelievable”.
“I’m very proud. It was a huge challenge for me as well, because I have been involved in this award a few times now, and always to receive this dedication from the fans is unbelievable,” Toure said.
He added that one of the only other people to have won the honour twice, Jay-Jay Okocha, was “always giving me good advice”..
