Yaya Touré joins countryman Didier Drogba as the only Africans on the Ballon d'Or 2012 list of nominees.
While Drogba won the Champions League with Chelsea, Touré won the English Premier League title with Manchester City. He played a variety of roles for Roberto Mancini's side in the midfield, whether it be attacking or defending and added crucial goals at clutch moments. In the penultimate game of the season, he scored the two goals in a 2-0 win over Newcastle. All in all he finished the 2011-12 season with six goals and six assists. Even though Man City had a dreadful UCL campaign that season and saw itself eliminated in the group stage, Touré scored three goals for his club in those matches.
For the Ivory Coast he has been equally instrumental and helped them qualify for the 2013 African Cup of Nations.
He has gotten off to a steady start in 2012-13 where he has scored two goals and assisted on another two in 13 matches for Manchester City. His team currently sits in first place in the EPL thanks in part to his clutch efforts.
Biggest Moment of the Year: Scoring the brace that put Man City one win away from the EPL Championship.
Chance of Top Three: If FIFA wants to put an African representative in the top three, he has a tough battle to do with the legendary Didier Drogba who won the UCL. However, Touré is still playing in the EPL while Drogba left for China and this could work for Touré. However, both of their chances are quite minimal at the top three.