T his week, the very best of African
football had gathered in Abuja,
Nigeria, for an awards ceremony in
honour of the players and teams who
had excelled in 2015. It was meant to be
a celebration of the continent’s
achievements but in the end it was
overshadowed by the comments of a
man who finished second in the African
player of the year awards.
It is a shame that the focus has shifted
from the winner in that category,
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to a sore
loser but perhaps the world should have
expected what was to come long before
Thursday’s ceremony ended because
Yaya Touré was visibly stunned right
from the moment it was clear that he
was not going to win the top honour for
a fifth consecutive year.
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When the Platinum Award (an accolade
usually given to the head of state of the
country in which the year’s African
Footballer of the Year awards is held)
had been given to Nigeria’s president,
Muhammadu Buhari, there was just one
more prize to give out.
The three nominees for the final, blue
riband award were called on to the
stage and then the co-host Juliet
Ibrahim started to speak. “And now, the
award for the 2015 African Footballer of
the Year. In second place,” she began,
repeating “second place” for emphasis –
no doubt to be very clear and also,
perhaps, as a self-check to avoid a Steve
Harvey moment “… is … Yaya Touré!”
First there is the briefest of pauses from
the crowd inside the International
Conference Center – the exact time they
need to allow the Ivorian’s name to
leave Juliet’s lips, travel through her
microphone, jump off the walls, slip
into their ears and lodge itself into their
brains.
Then, a collective gasp. Part of the
crowd is silent, absolutely stunned. A
few guests high-five. Loud cheers come
from others. On the live TV feed,
viewers are given a close-up shot of a
woman mouthing ‘wow, wow, wow’.
The real wow, however, is Touré’s
reaction in those three seconds. His
head, staring down at the floor shortly
before his name was mentioned, snaps
up. A brief frown and a tightening of
the jaw.
Looking at him then, we should have
known that the Ivorian was not going to
take this decision lightly.
Perhaps Touré’s bodyguard already
knew. He picks up one of the dessert
forks on the table and, with eyes
trained on his boss on stage, begins
rhythmically tapping the fork against a
plate. Clink, clink, clink. He watches
Yaya closely. We all do.
When Aubameyang is announced as the
winner, the contrast in facial
expressions is stark: Touré sports a
stony expression while the Gabonese is
unable to stop himself from breaking
out in a huge smile.
Just before leaving the stage, Touré
briefly shakes hands with Ghana’s
André Ayew, who finishes in third
place, and whispers a word of
congratulations to Aubameyang.
The official ceremony, what the world
sees on television, ends at 10.04pm
GMT. Almost immediately after that
Touré gets up and walks out of the hall.
He asks an official where the post-event
press conference is to be done, and
heads there.
There are no people in the room when
Touré and his bodyguard enter, just a
few chairs, a dais, and the humming air
conditioners. One minute. Two minutes.
Three. The four-time African Footballer
of the Year starts pacing.
“Où sont-ils?”, he says with minor
irritation. “Where is everyone?”
Just then, three Ghanaian reporters
walk in. They hesitate, unsure of his
mood and whether to try for an
exclusive. Eventually, Nana Akua
Amankwaa from TV3 Ghana goes
forward.
“Hi Yaya, can I get a selfie?”
Still pacing, the player responds: “Yes,
sure.” After the selfie, she asks for an
interview. Touré agrees.
While her cameraman gets ready, the
third journalist, Kwame Dwomoh from
Class FM in Accra, whips out his
recorder. Lights are checked. Sound is
checked. And then Kwame asks the
midfielder: “Were you surprised you
came in second today?”
“To be honest? Yeah, a little bit. But at
the end of the day what you have to
know is that in sport anything [can]
happen. And to be a player who wants
to achieve a lot of things as much as
possible, it is very important to keep it
going. And sometimes, when, in the
end, you win a trophy and you are not
able to achieve things personally it is a
shame. But what can we do?”
Kwame: “Were you expecting to win?”
Touré: “What do you think? I ask you a
question.”
Kwame: “I don’t know”.
Touré: “You don’t know? Me as well, I
don’t know. Because normally when
you win the African Cup of Nations and
you are able to be named as one of the
23 best players in the world, being in
the Fifpro list as the [only] African and,
today, to be decided second, what can
you do?”
Touré is asked how disappointed he is,
considering that this would have been a
record fifth award. He blows out his
cheeks. “I think so, yeah. Because
normally this kind of trophy you
achieve it when you have won
something and when, at the end of the
season, you have achieved something,
you know what I mean? I don’t say like
I would be the best and I don’t want to
complain but when you win important
trophies and you don’t win personal
trophies it is a little bit of a shame.”
Kwame: “Do you want to congratulate
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?”
Yaya: “Yes, definitely. But I think it’s
not his fault. The fault is with people he
knows, you know what I mean?
Aubameyang has been doing brilliantly.
As well as André Ayew he deserves it
today as well but to be honest with you
I am little bit disappointed, but what
can we do?”
After this interview, the Manchester
City player went on to grant similar
sentiments to Afrique Foot. The
standout comment from there was: “Us
Africans, we don’t show that Africa is
important in our eyes. We favour more
what’s abroad than our own continent.
That is pathetic.”
Touré is wrong. The only thing that is
pathetic here is his lack of class. After
winning the award four straight times,
he should know better than anyone else
that his previous wins have come
largely from his European
performances. The Ivorian’s first win in
2011 came after a good year with City,
when he scored the winner in their FA
Cup semi-final victory over Manchester
United and in the final against Stoke,
ending the club’s 35-year wait for a
major trophy. That year, he beat Seydou
Keita and André Ayew.
A year later, his key role for his club in
England on their way to a first Premier
league trophy in 50 years meant that he
saw off competition from Didier Drogba
(who had led Chelsea to the Champions
League and FA Cup in 2012) and Alex
Song. Touré should not forget that his
Ivory Coast side did not win the African
Cup that year, but he was still given the
award.
His third crown in 2013 came the year
Mikel John Obi won the Europa League
with Chelsea and was also the standout
player in Nigeria’s African Cup-winning
side. But the imposing midfielder won,
beating Drogba as well.
In 2014 Touré become the first player to
win the accolade four years in
succession, and he did it at a time when
Nigeria’s goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama
had powered the Super Eagles to the
second round of the World Cup and had
been the best player for Lille in Ligue 1.
Touré had been nominated after
playing a pivotal role in winning the
Premier League and League Cup as well
as helping his country to qualify for the
2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
History is an even better guide. The top
African award has always been biased
toward European performances;
otherwise the excellent Mohamed
Aboutrika should have bagged at least
one when Egypt won back-to-back-to-
back continental titles between 2006
and 2010. Instead, that period saw
Drogba (2006 and 2009), Frederic
Kanouté (2007), Emmanuel Adebayor
(2008) and Samuel Eto’o (2010) win,
mainly on the back of European
showings.
Touré, though, has a point (even though
the timing of the comments have made
him look like a very bad loser). Voters
must simply be encouraged to lend
more weight to African competitions,
especially in years when there is an
African Cup of Nations. Consistency
over 12 months is key, but how does a
continent win respect for its flagship
events when the top awards go to those
who shine outside of Africa?
This does not excuse Touré’s
churlishness on the night though. But
maybe we should not be surprised. The
birthday cake incident at City in May
2014 now, with hindsight, almost seems
like standard fare.
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After all, this is the man, also in 2014,
who claimed he had been overlooked as
a contender for the Ballon d’Or simply
because of the colour of his skin, which
was uncalled for and, quite frankly,
nonsense.
And then after helping his country win
the African Cup last year, he bizarrely
lashed out at his countrymen for giving
Drogba a bigger welcome to the former
Chelsea man for winning silver medals
from previous editions.
As graceful as he may be on the field,
the 32-year old is in danger of being
remembered more for his classless
comments than his outstanding talent
when he retires. And that would be a
real shame.
African team of the year
Robert Kidiaba (DR Congo/ TP
Mazembe), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast/
Paris St-Germain), Aymen Abdennour
(Tunisia/Valencia), Mohamed Meftah
(Algeria/USM Alger), André Ayew
(Ghana/Swansea), Sadio Mané (Senegal/
Southampton), Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast/
Manchester City), Yacine Brahimi
(Algeria/Porto), Mbwana Samatta
(Tanzania/ TP Mazembe), Pierre-
Emerick Aubameyeng (Gabon/Borussia
Dortmund), Baghdad Bounedjah
(Algeria/ Étoile du Sahel)
Aubameyang polled 143 voting points to
Touré’s 136 among national coaches. The 26-
year old says he is confident he can retain the
title if he keeps playing his best.