JOHANNESBURG Moroccan midfielder Mustapha Hadji was named Africa's Footballer of the Year on Tuesday by the confederation of African football in Cairo. The Deportivo Coruna player was cited by the Award's Committee for his performances in the World Cup finals in France and won a narrow vote over Nigeria's Austin Okocha. Hadji polled 76 votes to Okocha's 74 in the ballot of members of CAF's technical and press committees.

The 27-year-old midfielder is the fourth Moroccan to win the award but the first since goalkeeper Badou Ezaki in 1986. Ironically, Hadji almost never played for the country of his birth, making a difficult decision five years ago to play for Morocco rather than accept a call-up from the French under-21 team. Hadji, whose family moved to France while he was still a toddler, started his career at second division Nancy before moving to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal in 1996. He won 38 caps for his country and scored nine goals, including two at the World Cup finals in France. He also played at the 1994 World Cup finals in the U.S. Nigerian Sunday Oliseh finished third in the voting, with veteran Egyptian striker Hossam Hassan fourth and 21-year-old South African Benni McCarthy fifth.

Last year's winner, Victor Ikpeba of Nigeria, did not poll any votes this year. (Reuter)