Aubameyang’s turn!
Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang narrowly beat Cote d’ Ivoite’s Yaya Toure to win the Confederation of African Football’s player of the year award.
In a vote of coaches and technical directors (TDs) of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) member nations, Aubameyang earned 143 points, with Manchester City midfielder Toure, 32, the runner-up with 136 points.
Flames coach Ernest Mtawali and FAM TD John Kaputa’s choices fell through.
Mtawali’s choice was Ghana and Swansea midfielder Andre Ayew, 26, who was third with 112 points while Kaputa chose Toure.
“To be honest, I was in a predicament between Ayew and Aubameyang, but I felt Ayew had an edge because he did well for both club and country.
“He inspired Ghana to finish the finals of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations where he also the top scorer and he has settled in at Swansea in the English Premier League (EPL) in striking fashion and has scored vital goals for them.
“But Aubameyang also deserved it. It is not easy to be the leading scorer in a tough league like the Bundesliga. He has also been at the hub of Gabon national team’s rise,” said Mtawali, who at the peak of his career played in the French and Argentina top-flight leagues.
Kaputa said he voted for Toure because he had been outstanding for Manchester City and also inspired Cote d’ Ivoire to win the 2015 Afcon.
No Malawian player has ever won the prestigious award but late Cliffton Msiya and Kennedy Malunga were nominated in 1984 and 1987 respectively.
Aubameyang, 26, is the first player from his country to win the award. He is the Bundesliga’s leading scorer so far this season, with 18 goals in 17 league games.
The Gabonese star made a traditional acceptance speech, thanking his family, team mates and the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, a notable football fan.
Ondimba returned the compliment, in a statement which hailed Aubameyang as key to his country’s hopes when they host the next Africa Cup of Nations in 2017, describing him as an “exceptional Gabonese [who has] demonstrated dazzling intuition and an attack of unparalleled velocity.”
Gabon were eliminated in the first round of the 2015 Nations Cup and Aubameyang’s success has been based on his stellar performances for Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
Yaya Toure had been named African footballer of the year by CAF for the last four years and was recently crowned by the fans as the BBC African footballer of the year for 2015.
“I’m quite disappointed, but I don’t want to complain too much,” Toure was quoted as saying by BBC.
“I just want to give credit to Aubameyang—you’ve been doing brilliantly well this year.”
Herve Renard, who managed Ivory Coast to their Africa Cup of Nations victory, won the coach of the year award.
The Frenchman, who led Zambia to victory in the tournament in 2012, is the first person to coach two different countries to the title.
Mbwana Aly Samatta, the Tanzanian star who helped his club TP Mazembe to the African Champions League title, was crowned African-based player of the year.
TP Mazembe were named club of the year.—Additional by reporting by Bbc
