Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been crowned as the African Player of the Year for 2015. The Gabonese international became the first player from his nation and the German Bundesliga to win the award.
Aubameyang was voted the winner claiming 143 and ahead of Yaya Toure of Manchester City and Andre Ayew of Swansea City who finished second and third with 136 and 112 points respectively. The awards were announced at a ceremony held in Abuja, Nigeria.
Aubameyang is having a stellar season with Dortmund in the Bundesliga. The 26-year-old has 27 goals in 27 games for his club in all competitions since the start of the season and has established himself as one of Europe’s most prolific forwards. The award holds huge significance to the player as he narrowly missed out on the same in 2014 to Toure.
The striker made a traditional acceptance speech and thanked family, teammates and the president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, a notable football fan. 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.
The recipient of the prestigious award is decided by a group of national team coaches and technical directors in Africa. Yaya Toure and Samuel Eto’o are the most honoured individuals with both winning it four times. Toure came into this year as a favorite having won the award for four consecutive years since 2011 but he missed out on a record fifth time.
I’m quite disappointed: Yaya Toure
Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure admitted his disappointment in missing out on the award for a record fifth time. He was recently crowned by the fans as the BBC African footballer of the year 2015. Toure also lifted the AFCON trophy in February last year as Ivory Coast took the African crown for the first time in more than 20 years.
"I'm quite disappointed, but I don't want to complain too much," Toure said after the announcement. "I just want to give credit to Aubameyang - you've been doing brilliantly well this year."
Herve Renard named African coach of the year
Herve Renard was voted as the African coach of the year after leading Ivory Coast to Africa Cup of Nations glory. He won the tournament twice as a manager after having previously tasted success in 2012 with Zambia. Renard is the only man to win the tournament with two different countries.
Victor Osimhen was named Young player of the year after his record-breaking feat at the U-17 World Cup with Nigeria. Oghenekaro Etebo was named Promising Player of the Year.
