Diouf lands player award

SENEGAL striker El-Hadji Diouf has been voted African Footballer of the Year.

The Lens hit-man beat Ghana defender Samuel Kuffor into second and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, who finished third for the second successive season.

Diouf picked up 93 votes in a poll among African Football Confederation media and technical committee members,while Bayern Munich star Kuffor, who was widely expected to win the award, finished runner-up with 66 votes and Real Mallorca star Eto'o netting 34 votes.

21-year-old Diouf was the inspiration for Senegal as they qualified for the first World Cup finals this year and he helped them to reach the final of this year's African Cup of Nations only to lose to Cameroon.

Senegal made it a clean sweep with their French-born coach Bruno Metsu picking up the Coach of the Year gong and the team lifting the National Team of the Year award.

Ghana striker Derek Boateng, who has attracted the interest of a number of clubs with his performances for Panathinaikos, was voted Young Player of the Year.