Ivorian and Manchester City star Yaya Toure has been named the African Player of the Year 2014 by the Confederation of African Football after beating Vincent Enyeama and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the prestigious honour. The win is significant as it equals the record number of wins (four) previously held by Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon. The awards ceremony, held in Lagos, also saw other players recognized for excellent achievements in the last year but undoubtedly, the African Footballer of the Year award was the high point of the evening.
On a night when records were set, Yaya Toure’s award ensures the Ivory Coast hold the record of having produced the most number of winners of the African Footballer of the Year award in its 23-year history. Yaya Toure is also the only player in the history of the award to win four consecutive times after previous wins in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Describing himself as lucky, the energetic footballer thanked the organizers of the awards as well as his fans.
“I’ve been very blessed all these years,” Toure said at the ceremony. “I want to thank all the football fans and say ‘Thank you Africa’.”
On other fronts, it was a great night for Nigeria as the host nation produced winners in three categories; the African Women Player award, Africa Youth Player of the Year as well as the Female National Team of the Year.
Algeria, widely heralded as the best team on the continent, also had a night to remember as they produced winners in a number of categories as well.
The awards ceremony, billed as the ‘Oscars of African Football’ certainly lived up to the hype with excellent musical performances and brilliant hosts in Robert Marawa and Jocelyn Dumas.
Here is a full list of all the winners at the 2014 Glo/CAF Awards
African Player of the Year
Yaya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City)
African Player of the Year – Based in Africa
Firmin Mubele Ndombe (DR Congo and AS Vita)
Women’s Player of the Year
Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria and River Angels)
Youth Player of the Year
Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria and River Angels)
Most Promising Talent
Yacine Brahimi (Algeria and Porto)
Coach of the Year
Kheireddine Madoui (ES Setif)
National Team of the Year
Algeria
Women’s National Team of the Year
Nigeria
Club of the Year
ES Setif (Algeria)
Referee of the Year
Papa Bakary Gassama (Gambia)
Football Leader of the Year
Moise Katumbi Chapwe – President of TP Mazembe (DR Congo)
African Legend award
Oryx Club (Cameroon) – winners of the maiden edition of CAF Champions League 1964
Stade Malien (Mali) – runner up of the maiden edition of CAF Champion’s League 1964
Platinum Award
Dr Kwame Nkrumah (First President of Ghana)
His Excellency Goodluck Jonthan (President of Nigeria)
CAF Finest XI
Goalkeeper: Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria)
Defenders: Jean Kasulula (DR Congo), Mehdi Benatia (Morocco), Stephane Mbia (Cameroon), Kwadwo Asamoah (Ghana)
Midfielders: Yaya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire), Yacine Brahimi (Algeria), Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (Tunisia), Ahmed Musa (Nigeria)
Forwards: Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)
Substitutes: Raïs M’Bolhi (Algeria), Firmin Mubele Ndombe (DR Congo), Ferdjani Sassi (Tunisia), Yao Kouasi Gervais ‘Gervinho (Cote d’Ivoire), Abdelrahman Fetori (Libya), Akram Djahnit (Algeria), Roger Assalé (Cote d’Ivoire)
In a show of transparency, CAF have since released documents which show how the winner of the African Player of the Year award emerged by revealing how all the national team coaches voted.
