Football
ESPN staff 9y

Yaya Toure wins African player of the year for fourth straight time

Yaya Toure has been named CAF's African player of the year for a record-equaling fourth time, matching the feat of former Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o.

The Ivory Coast and Manchester City midfielder also became the first player to win the award four times in a row.

Toure was announced as Africa's top player for 2014 at a ceremony in Lagos on Thursday.

The African award is decided by a vote of the coaches or technical directors of the continent's national teams. Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama were the other finalists.

Last season, Toure scored 24 goals for City, 20 of them in the Premier League as they claimed the title for the second time in three seasons.

After a turbulent summer in which Toure suffered the loss of his younger brother Ibrahim to cancer and seemed to be at odds with his club, he started the season slowly by his own standards but returned to form before heading to the African Nations Cup.

Algeria won team of the year after establishing itself as Africa's top-ranked team in 2014.

Information from The Associated Press and Press Association was used in this report.

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