Fredi Kanoute Wins African Footballer of the Year 2007

Mali’s Fredi Kanoute was named African Footballer of the Year 2007 on Friday, edging out Didier Drogba and Michael Essien in a vote by the coaches of all 53 CAF national teams.

Though you can make a case for either Drogba or Essien deserving the award, Kanoute’s a deserving winner. His goals helped Mali qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations and Sevilla to Copa del Rey and UEFA Cup glory. Kanoute is the first European-born player to win the award (he was born in France and played for Les Bleus U-21s) and the second Malian since Salif Keita was the very first African Footballer of the Year in 1970.

The bad news is that we’ve seen the last of Kanoute at the Africa Cup of Nations. He scored from the spot in Mali’s opening 1-0 win over Benin and saw a lot of the ball during the 0-0 draw with Nigeria. But Kanoute was injured during the all-important Group B finale against Cote d’Ivoire and was withdrawn at halftime.