{"id":20266,"date":"2011-12-23T11:54:16","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T11:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/"},"modified":"2011-12-23T11:54:16","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T11:54:16","slug":"africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career&#8217; &#8211; Toure"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cafonline.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Confederation of African Football<\/a> (Giza)<\/p>\n<p>23 December 2011<\/p>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p>Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure has described his coronation as African Player of the Year 2011 as the first step of his career.<\/p>\n<p>Toure was named the best player on the continent of the year beating Malian Seydou Keita and Andre Ayew of Ghana at the Awards Gala held on Thursday at the Banquet Hall, State House, Accra in Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>The Ivorian gained the highest votes in the poll decided by votes from the Head Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am very happy to win the award. I feel proud of this special day. I thank my family; wife and kids for their support. I am also grateful to my brother (Kolo Toure), my teammates (Club and national team) and the Ivorian Football Federation for their role in this feat,&#8221; an elated Toure said.<\/p>\n<p>The 28-year old accompanied by some friends and family reckoned that it was no easy feat to be crowned the foremost footballer on the continent in the midst of many others.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was not easy to win such an award. This is the first step for my career. It is a very important award for me and I&#8217;m grateful to my colleagues. For me this is the highest prize in my career,&#8221; added the midfielder who was a UEFA Champions League and Spanish La Liga titles during his tenure with Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>The Manchester City midfielder also acknowledged the fast pace of the development of the game on the continent ahead of next year&#8217;s Africa Cup of Nations where the Elephants are ranked among the favourites.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;African football is growing. The emergence of Botswana and Niger who have qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations is a testament to rise of football in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now, the focus is on the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. We are looking forward to the tournament.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Toure joins compatriot Didier Drogba as the only Ivorians to win the most prestigious individual honour in African football since its inception in 1992.<\/p>\n<p>AllAfrica &#8211; All the Time<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<fieldset>\n<legend align=\"center\"><strong>More News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Confederation of African Football (Giza) 23 December 2011 Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure has described his coronation as African Player of the Year 2011 as the first step of his career. Toure was named the best player on the continent of the year beating Malian Seydou Keita and Andre Ayew of Ghana at the Awards Gala held on Thursday at the Banquet Hall, State House, Accra in Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career&#039; - Toure - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career&#039; - Toure - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Confederation of African Football (Giza) 23 December 2011 Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure has described his coronation as African Player of the Year 2011 as the first step of his career. Toure was named the best player on the continent of the year beating Malian Seydou Keita and Andre Ayew of Ghana at the Awards Gala held on Thursday at the Banquet Hall, State House, Accra in Ghana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career&#8217; &#8211; Toure\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-23T11:54:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/\",\"name\":\"Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career' - Toure - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-23T11:54:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career' - Toure - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/23\/africa-this-is-the-first-step-of-my-career-toure\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Africa: This Is the First Step of My Career' - Toure - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Confederation of African Football (Giza) 23 December 2011 Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure has described his coronation as African Player of the Year 2011 as the first step of his career. 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