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.”