AFP, Abuja :
Gabon and Borussia Dortmund star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Thursday upstaged favourite Yaya Toure to win a first African Player of the Year Award.
In a vote of coaches and technical directors of Confederation of African Football (CAF) member-nations, Aubameyang tallied 143 points ahead of Manchester City and Ivory Coast star Toure, who scored 136 points and was bidding for a fifth successive award.
Swansea City and Ghana striker Andre Ayew was third on 112 points.
It was sweet revenge for Aubameyang after he lost the 2014 prize to Toure who scooped the prestigious individual accolade in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The 26-year-old Gabon skipper was in outstanding form for German Bundesliga club Dortmund in the year under review.
He has also had his best start to a season since arriving from Saint-Etienne in 2013, scoring 18 goals in 17 Bundesliga games and 27 in all competitions.
That kind of form has seen him linked with a winter transfer window move away from the Bundesliga with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United all linked with him.
Frenchman Herve Renard, who led the Ivory Coast to the 2015 African Cup of Nations, was named Coach of the Year.
This was his second such award after the 47-year-old also led Zambia to upset favourites Ivory Coast to lift a first-ever Nations Cup trophy in 2012.
Gabon and Borussia Dortmund star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on Thursday upstaged favourite Yaya Toure to win a first African Player of the Year Award.
In a vote of coaches and technical directors of Confederation of African Football (CAF) member-nations, Aubameyang tallied 143 points ahead of Manchester City and Ivory Coast star Toure, who scored 136 points and was bidding for a fifth successive award.
Swansea City and Ghana striker Andre Ayew was third on 112 points.
It was sweet revenge for Aubameyang after he lost the 2014 prize to Toure who scooped the prestigious individual accolade in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
The 26-year-old Gabon skipper was in outstanding form for German Bundesliga club Dortmund in the year under review.
He has also had his best start to a season since arriving from Saint-Etienne in 2013, scoring 18 goals in 17 Bundesliga games and 27 in all competitions.
That kind of form has seen him linked with a winter transfer window move away from the Bundesliga with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United all linked with him.
Frenchman Herve Renard, who led the Ivory Coast to the 2015 African Cup of Nations, was named Coach of the Year.
This was his second such award after the 47-year-old also led Zambia to upset favourites Ivory Coast to lift a first-ever Nations Cup trophy in 2012.
