By Michael oti Adjei BBC Sport, Accra

Bayor is the 2003 African Female Footballer of the Year

Adjoa Bayor has earned high praise in Ghana since being named Caf's 2003 Female Footballer of the Year, but the 25-year-old has long had to play in the shadows of her more popular team mates.

For Black Queens captain Alberta Sackey, who Bayor succeeds as the continent's best female footballer, is the most popular female player in Ghana.

In addition, goalkeeper Memunatu Suleimana, who has been selected for the Women's All-Stars game against Germany to celebrate Fifa's centennial in Paris on 20 May, also turns more heads in the West African nation than Bayor.

Yet those closely associated with the Black Queens are in no doubt that the midfielder is a deserved recipient of her award.

Bayor has skills that mark her out as the Abedi Pele of women's football in Ghana Former Black Queens coach Emmanuel Afranie

"She has not received the recognition she deserves but Bayor has been about the most important player in the Queens for a while now," says Emmanuel Afranie, who coached the Ghanaians at their maiden World Cup appearance in 1999.

"She creates a lot of chances, has great ball control and skills that mark her out as the Abedi Pele of women's football in Ghana."

Like most Ghanaians with ambitions of a professional football career, Abedi Pele was a huge inspiration to Bayor when she was nurturing her football dreams as a youngster growing up in Accra.

"My mother just wasn't impressed that I would skip school and play football but I knew from day one that it was what I wanted to do," Bayor told BBC Sport.

"Several times, I would watch Abedi Pele for the Black Stars and want to go on to become like him."

Now Bayor is aware that following her crowning as the female African player of the year, she will be required to inspire the national women's team in the manner that her role model did for the Black Stars.

"I feel very proud that my efforts have been recognised but it will also place enormous burden on me every time I play for Ghana," she said.

Bayor's ability to create chances and delight crowds with her ball skills has marked her out as an outstanding player.

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She was instrumental in Ghana's 2003 World Cup campaign and was voted the player of the match when the Black Queens registered their first win at that level against Australia last year.

Bayor has been a regular with the Black Queens since 1997, playing at two African championships and two World Cups in the process.

Yet her club career has not been as smooth.

She quit the Robert Morris College in the United States late last year given the difficulty she found in combining the demands of football and education after joining from Ghanaian side Ghatel Ladies in 2001.

But the reigning Black Queen is hopeful that Caf's recognition will facilitate a move to a club where football is not mixed up with education.