Essien to receive BBC award on Monday

Ghana midfielder Michael Essien will receive the 2006 BBC African Footballer of the Year Award in Accra on Monday.

The Chelsea ace won the award in January in votes cast by listeners of the BBC World Service’s flagship sports Fast Track.

The 25-year-old will add his name to the roll of honour of the coveted award at the Alisa hotel 12 noon.

Previous winners include Ghana's Sammy Kuffour, Senegal's El Hadji Diouf and Nigeria's Jay Jay Okocha, who won the award twice.

Egyptian Mohammed Barakat was the first north African to win the award after clinching the 2005 trophy.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho, on a charity visit in Accra, was full of praise for his Ghanaian player.

“I didn’t make Essien Africa’s most expensive player, but at this moment nobody regrets the money Chelsea spent on Michael because he’s a high-performance player,” Mourinho said.

"People like to speak about Essien because they think he is a great football player but I prefer to say that he is a great man.

"We are very happy to have him with us and I think Ghana should be very proud about him not just because he is a great player but also he has got good behaviour which is good for society."

Top executives of the BBC World Service are in Ghana to organise the event.

"We at the BBC take pride in this award because it is the only one decided exclusively by the fans," said BBC Africa Sport editor Farayi Mungazi said.

Essien will be live on Monday's Fast Track with his mother and fans can listen to the show and put questions to the Chelsea star.

In a live public vote in January, Essien received nearly twice as many votes as Ahly and Egypt playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba.

For the first time in the history of the prize, the winner was decided live during the BBC World Service's flagship African sports programme Fast Track.

The BBC award took into account the football calendar from January to December 2006 and includes domestic leagues, both the Uefa and Caf Champions League tournaments.

The African Nations Cup, the World Cup and the World Club Cup are also included within this period.