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Yaya Toure named African Footballer of Year

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ACCRA (Reuters) -- Ivory Coast and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure was named African Footballer of the Year on Thursday.

He finished ahead of Ghana's Andre 'Dede' Ayew and Mali's Seydou Keita in the 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.

Toure, the second Ivorian to win the award after twice-winner Didier Drogba, enjoyed a fine year for club and country.

He scored the winning goal in Manchester City's 1-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup final and this season has impressed in big-spending City's rise to the top of the Premier League.

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

Toure, who moved to Manchester from Barcelona for a fee of around 24 million pounds after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, thanked his family, including brother Kolo Toure, and City team mates in a brief acceptance speech at the CAF awards in Ghana.

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