Okocha misses out on award

Bolton’s Nigerian midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha has been pipped to the 2003 African Player of the Year award by Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.

Okocha and Marseille striker Didier Drogba, of the Ivory Coast, were nominated for the award but missed out when Real Mallorca star Eto’o, 23, was named as winner in his country’s capital Yaounde.

Eto’o, tipped for a big money move in the summer, succeeds Liverpool’s Senegal forward El Hadji Diouf as the continent’s top player.

Inter Milan’s teenage striker Obafemi Martins, who hails from Nigeria, won the young player’s award ahead of Kolo Toure (Arsenal and Ivory Coast) and Steven Pienaar (Ajax and South Africa).