Yaya Toure Wins 2015 BBC African Footballer of the Year Award

Manchester City’s Yaya Toure has been named as the BBC African Footballer of the Year on the back of a glorious year for his country, Ivory Coast.

BBC Africa confirmed the 32-year-old had triumphed for the second successive year, becoming only the third player in history to win the award twice after Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu.

Here’s a look at Toure with the award, courtesy of the Manchester City Twitter feed:

Speaking with BBC Sport after being handed the trophy, Toure expressed his pride at getting the better of some other stellar nominees:

I am very proud. To receive this dedication from the fans is unbelievable.

Also I want to pay tribute to the other nominees. African football is growing up, becoming much better and we have fantastic young players coming through now.

We are all champions. We all want to win. For me to be the winner I am delighted and very happy. And as an African player, I want to lead all my younger brothers to be successful in the future.

Aside from Toure, Borussia Dortmund’s and Gabon’s star striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang was also in the running, as was Porto’s Algerian winger Yacine Brahimi. Southampton and Senegal flier Sadio Mane was also shortlisted along with Swansea City and Ghana forward Andre Ayew.

This means that Toure remains the holder of the BBC award and the separate honour distributed by the Confederation of African Football. 

The latter prize has been won by the City man four times already, and if he was to triumph again, having been shortlisted earlier this year, he’d overtake former Barcelona man Samuel Eto’o as the player with the most victories; the winner of that accolade will be announced on December 22.

On the domestic front, it’s not been the best year for Toure, as City finished 2014-15 without silverware. After a strong beginning to the current season, Manuel Pellegrini’s side have tailed off slightly in recent weeks, too, although they did secure top spot in their UEFA Champions League group to qualify for the next round.

Indeed, it’s Toure’s work with the Ivory Coast that has most likely propelled him to this honour, as the Elephants ended a long wait for Africa Cup of Nations glory earlier this year.

Here’s a reminder of the dramatic circumstances in which they won it:

Toure wasn’t able to produce his marauding best for Ivory Coast at that tournament, but he was a steady presence in the middle of the park and clearly a strong leader, too. In what was a draining final against Ghana he kept his composure and slotted his penalty in the shootout, as the Elephants won 9-8 on penalties after 120 minutes of goalless action.

For Toure to win the award again next year, he’ll need to up his levels for City. No longer is he a player capable of bossing games from box to box, and that’s something Pellegrini must look at in the months to come.

But this latest award is an indicator of how much good Toure has done for African football and further cements his status as one of the greatest-ever players from the continent.