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Emmanuel Adebayor crowned 91Èȱ¬ African Footballer 2007
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African football fans have spoken, crowning Togolese star, Emmanuel Adebayor, the 91Èȱ¬ African Footballer Of The Year 2007.
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In the vote organised by the 91Èȱ¬'s dedicated African football website, bbcworldservice.com/africanfootball, the striker, who plays for the English Premier League club Arsenal, emerged as the overwhelming winner.
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He got almost 42% of the vote, ahead of two Chelsea players – captain of Ivory Coast Didier Drogba in second and last year's winner, Ghana's Michael Essien, in third place.
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The result was broadcast live today, 18 January, on the 91Èȱ¬'s African sports programme, Fast Track, presented by Farayi Mungazi.
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Emmanuel Adebayor told the programme that winning the 91Èȱ¬ African Footballer of the Year title was like a dream come true:
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"My winning is with a vision. Winning is good, but it's better when it becomes a means of hope and positive change in the lives of those who are disenfranchised ... I want to become an agent of hope and positive change in the lives of the millions of African youths who have lost hope and are deprived.
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"These children are the potential leaders of tomorrow and should be accorded all the necessary attention and given assistance to empower them to fulfil their potential as citizens of Africa."
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Adebayor called on his fellow African football stars to become "ambassadors for Africa", adding: "We have to help Africa out."
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This year, for the first time, a short list of five players had been drawn up by football experts from every country in Africa, based on footballers' individuality, technical ability, teamwork, consistency and fair play.
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The short list also included Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o from Cameroon and Sevilla's Frederic Kanoute from Mali.
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Fans had a month to vote, until 17.00 GMT on Friday 4 January 2008 – online at bbcworldservice.com/africanfootball and via SMS.
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For the first time, football fans were also able cast their vote in Swahili, Somali, Hausa, Portuguese and French. The 91Èȱ¬ received a total of 65,497 emails and text votes of which Adebayor got 28,308.
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Other previous 91Èȱ¬ African Footballer Of The Year winners include Egypt's Mohamed Barakat (2005), Senegal's El-Hadji Diouf (2002), Ghana's Sammy Kuffou (2001) and Nigeria's Jay Jay Okocha (2003, 2004).
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91Èȱ¬ World Service Publicity
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