Yaya Toure makes a case for undervalued African players
Three-time African player of the year, Yaya Toure during an interview on Football Focus segment on BBC World News made a case for undervalued footballers in Africa. Toure who has netted a total of 22 goals this season for his club, Manchester City says African footballers deserve to be celebrated like their European counterparts. The 30 year-old UN ambassador believes the media has a major role to play in the recognition/celebration of African players.
“To be honest, proper recognition has only come from the fans, I don’t want to be hard and I don’t want to be negative, but I want to be honest. If we play well and we don’t have the recognition from the media, we are not going to be where we want to be. If you go to any part of Africa now, people will say, ‘yes, we know Messi, but when you come to Europe and say ‘Yaya Toure’ people will say, ‘who is that?’ Some will say they know my name but not know my face. But they will know Messi’s face.” He stated
Citing the likes of Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o who are un-appreciated despite their significant contributions at their various clubs. The Ivorian believes they also deserve to win the Ballon d’Or award, adding that there has only been one African winner of the award, which is former AC Milan and Liberia striker George Weah who won in 1995.
“Those players are more than legends for me and Africa. I am very proud to be African, I want to defend African people and I want to show to the world that African players can be as good as the Europeans and South Americans.”
Samuel Eto'o opens up on his relationship with former boss. "Pep Guardiola is a coward, he never had the courage to say things in front of me."
Chelsea striker and former Barcelona player, Samuel Eto’o has opened up on his relationship with his former boss, Pep Guardiola while at the spanish club. The Cameroonian revealed that during the 2008/2009 season, the incumbent Bayern Munich coach spoke to him on few occasions and used other players to communicate more.
“I first of all reminded Guardiola that he’d never been a great player. He was a good player, that’s true. I told him. As a coach, he had proven nothing. He came in and didn’t even know the story of the dressing room. Guardiola has never had the courage to say things in front of me. He passed by the players. Xavi told me they wanted me to stay but I had to talk to Pep. I say “never, if you do not respect me, I do not respect you. There were three occasions when he spoke to me that season.
One was when he wanted me to speak to Yaya Toure, who didn’t want to talk to him either. Another was when he told me how to move like a striker. I told him: “You’re not normal!” The true story is that Pep didn’t respect the things in football.
He shook hands with me when I was at Inter and I played against Barca, but this was just for the cameras and TV. Behind the scenes before the match, he did not greet me.’
Yaya Toure on Jose Mourinho. "He talks more than before"
SUPER HAT-TRICK! YAYA TOURE WINS 2013 CAF AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD.
Manchester City midfielder, Yaya Toure has won his third Confederation African Football (CAF) title in a row. The Ivorian who has been on a top-notch form recently won BBC African Footballer of the Year award, held in December 2013.
The 30 year-old UN ambassador was declared outright winner in an Awards Gala anchored by ex-soccer star, Sunday Oliseh & South African TV journalist Carol Shabalala and held today January 9, 2014 at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos. He edged out his Ivorian colleague, Didier Drogba and Nigeria’s John Mikel Obi to win the 2013 edition of the award.
Yaya is also the only African to be
included on the 23-man shortlist for Fifa’s World Player of the Year.
WHO WINS CAF'S BEST AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD?
"IT'S A FANTASTIC ACHIEVEMENT" YAYA TOURE WINS 2013 BBC AFRICAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR AWARD.
SEE THE 10 HIGHEST PAID PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS
22 year-old Eden harzard tops the list, his paypacket is put at £185k per week. My surprise player on the top ten scale is Mesut Ozil who sits on the 5th spot. The list consists of one Belgian, three English players, one Dutch, one Ivorian, one German, two Spaniards and one French.
(1) Eden Hazard – Chelsea (£185k)
(2) Robin Van Persie – Manchester United (£180k)
(3) Wayne Rooney – Manchester United (£180k)
(4) Yaya Toure – Manchester City (£180k)
(5) Mesut Ozil – Arsenal (£180k)
(6) Fernando Torres – Chelsea (£175k)
(7) John Terry – Chelsea (£175k)
(8) David Silva – Manchester City (£160k)
(9) Samir Nasri -Manchester City (£140k)
(10) Frank Lampard – Chelsea (£140k)
Source: fanatix.com
YAYA TOURE CROWNED AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2011
28 year-old Manchester city midfielder, Yaya Toure has emerged CAF's African player of the year 2011 beating Ghana's Andre Ayew and Mali's Seydou Keita.
He was chosen based on votes of head coaches or technical directors of the national association based on the performance of the nominees from January to November.
CAF SHORTLISTS THREE PLAYERS FOR THE AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Yaya Toure |
Andre Ayew |
Seydou Keita |
The TheConfederation of African Football (CAF) has shortlisted the final three players contesting for the 2011 African Player of the Year award
The players are:
Yaya Toure (Manchester City&Ivory Coast) Andre Ayew (Olympique Marseile& Ghana)
Seydou Keita (Barcelona&Mali)
The winner will be announced at the CAF Awards Gala, which on Thursday, December 22 in Accra. The shortlist for the 2011 African Player of the Year was decided by votes of head coaches or technical directors of the national associations affiliated to CAF based on the performance of the nominees from January to November, 2011.
Source: Goal.com