Essien named BBC African Footballer of the Year
First Published: Jan 05, 2007
Chelsea's Ghana international Michael Essien, seen here in 2006, was named the BBC's African Footballer of the year, carrying off the title with a massive 66 percent of the vote.
Chelsea's Ghana international Michael Essien was named the BBC's African Footballer of the year, carrying off the title with a massive 66 percent of the vote.
The 24-year-old midfielder was named ahead of Mohammed Aboutrika, of Egyptian club side El Ahly, while Essien's colleague at the English champions, Didier Drogba, of the Ivory Coast, came third.
More than 12,000 listeners to BBC World Service's Fast Track African sports programme voted in the poll, which was run in conjunction with the broadcaster's bbc.co.uk/africanfootball website.
Previous winners include Senegal's El-Hadji Diouf, Egypt's Mohamed Barakat, Sammy Kuffour of Ghana and Nigeria's Jay Jay Okocha, who won the award twice, in 2003 and 2004.
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