Yaya Toure named African Player of the Year

Accra, Ghana: Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure has been named African Player of the Year at an awards ceremony in the Ghanaian capital Accra.

The Manchester City player won ahead of Mali and Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita, with Ghana forward Andre 'Dede' Ayew - who plays for French club Marseille - third in polling by national coaches of the 53-member associations of the Confederation of African Football. The full tally of votes was not immediately released by CAF, African soccer's governing body.

Harouna Doula won Coach of the Year at Thursday's annual Confederation of African Football awards after he led Niger to their first African Cup of Nations finals, qualifying from a group containing South Africa and record seven-time champions Egypt.

Botswana won Team of the Year after they also qualified for their first African Cup.

Former Nigeria international Jay Jay Okocha and Morocco's Mustapha Hadji were honored with African legends awards.

The 28-year-old Toure thanked his family, including brother and City teammate Kolo, in a brief acceptance speech at the CAF awards in Ghana. "This award is not important for me alone. It's for my country and for my club," he said. "This is a big step in my career, I'm very thrilled. To be the winner is fantastic."

Toure, the second Ivorian to land the award after twice-winner Didier Drogba of Chelsea, enjoyed a fine year for club and country. He scored the winning goal in Manchester City's 1-0 victory over Stoke City in the FA Cup final and this season has impressed in his club's rise to the top of the Premier League.

Toure also helped Ivory Coast finish their African Nations Cup qualifying campaign with a 100 percent record.

The midfielder joined City from Barcelona for a fee of around 24 million Pounds after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Toure, who had a nomadic early career in Europe, was ever present for his country in 2011. The Ivorians were the only side to win every game in the preliminaries for the 2012 finals and are among the favourites for next month's competition in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Midfielder Keita, who won the Champions League and La Liga with Barcelona, was runner-up to Toure.

Ayew, whose father Abedi Pele won three African Footballer of the Year awards from 1991-93, finished third.