Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré has officially been named as BBC's African Footballer of the Year for the calendar year of 2015.

The powerhouse Ivorian, who was influential in helping his native Ivory Coast win the African Cup of Nations, has now won the award twice - and is the reigning CAF African Footballer of the Year, too.

Record breaker

Yaya becomes only the third player in history to win the award more than once, after Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu both won the accolade twice in their twilight years.

As quoted by the official club website, Touré told BBC Africa of his overwhelming pride to win the award, as it was "a huge challenge" for him.

Touré triumphant as he wins another accolade

Porto's Yacine Brahimi, Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Swansea winger André Ayew and Southampton's Sadio Mané were all strong nominees in contention for the award - but the City star eventually triumphed.

Touré also praised the way in which African football has developed, saying it is "growing up" and has improved as they've got a "fantastic" standard of young players progressing through the ranks.

"As an African player, I want to lead all my younger brothers to be successful in the future."

Although, still room for improvement

Although he has not particularly been at his consistent best recently, the Ivorian has constantly remained a key player in Manuel Pellegrini’s immediate first-team plans. His surging, marauding runs forward from midfield have been rarely seen of late, whilst his defensive capabilities are understandably not as strong as his attacking strengths.

Because of this, in the absence of David Silva, he has been deployed in a central attacking midfield role – with Fernandinho and Fernando or Fabian Delph usually the two holding midfielders protecting the back four, allowing him the freedom to roam forward more often.

He, and the City supporters alike, will be hoping he can improve his consistency with a tough run of fixtures in the New Year. When on-form, he is excellent and a troublesome figure to defend against.