World Player of the Year!

eirebhoy

FIFA WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES
Adriano (Brazil)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Deco (Portugal)
Michael Essien (Ghana)
Luis Figo (Portugal)
Steven Gerrard (England)
Kaka (Brazil)
Philipp Lahm (Germany)
Jens Lehmann (Germany)
Andrea Pirlo (Italy)
Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina)
Wayne Rooney (England)
Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine)
Patrick Vieira (France)
Michael Ballack (Germany)
Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
Petr Cech (Czech Republic)
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon)
Gennaro Gattuso (Italy)
Thierry Henry (France)
Miroslav Klose (Germany)
Frank Lampard (England)
Alessandro Nesta (Italy)
Franck Ribery (France)
Ronaldinho (Brazil)
Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic)
Lilian Thuram (France)
Zinedine Zidane (France)

Obviously most of the list is a joke but I like to see Irish players get recognision. That's why I ask (rhetorically) how is Cech in ahead of the premiership goalkeeper of the year? I think every one of those players played in the WC so that's obviously part of the criteria I suppose.

Actually, this is the award voted for by international coaches and players, isn't it?

Rikand

Gennaro Gattuso (Italy)

imo

Rockee

How the hell is Wayne Rooney in that list??? He hasnt put in sufficient enough performances to justify his place.

kinaldo

eirebhoy wrote:

Actually, this is the award voted for by international coaches and players, isn't it?

Yes but the list is drawn up by Fifa. Voters then pick their top 3 players and the votes are tallied up using a pts system, with 1st obviously earning candidates the most points. Also, votes tend to be slightly biased (they get published in World Soccer magazine). I remember one year, 1997 I think, the Colombian coach gave his top vote to Tino Asprilla

scojones

Zidane ftw! That headbutt alone makes him head and shoulders above the rest.

kinaldo

La Liga practically owns this award now. I'd like to see it go to Cannavaro this year.

eirebhoy

kinaldo wrote:

Yes but the list is drawn up by Fifa.

I'm not sure that's the case. I think FIFA just publish the Top 30 and the winner is already known. As you said, there are a few really strange votes.

/edit Here's last years votes by coaches:
http://www.fifa.com/documents/fifa/events/FWPG05_01_votes_coaches_men_final.xls

Andorra coach voted for Robben. I doubt he made the shortlist. Even the Guinea captain voted for Okocha.

kinaldo

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm not sure that's the case. I think FIFA just publish the Top 30 and the winner is already known. As you said, there are a few really strange votes.

You may be right, but according to the gospel of truth that is Wikipedia:

Following criticism from some sections of the media over questionable nominations in previous years, in 2004 FIFA drew up a shortlist of 35 men and 21 women from which national team managers and, for the first time, team captains and representatives from FIFPro (the worldwide representative organization for professional players) could vote .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Player_of_the_Year

mike65

Adriano (Inter Milan, Brazil),
Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany),
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy),
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy),
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal),
Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic),
Deco (Barcelona, Portugal),
Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast),
Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana),
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon),
Luis Figo (Inter Milan, Portugal),
Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy),
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England),
Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France),
Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil),
Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany),
Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany),
Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England),
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany),
Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy),
Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy),
Franck Ribery (Marseille, France),
Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina),
Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil),
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England),
Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic),
Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine),
Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France),
Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan, France),
Zinedine Zidane (retired, France).

Gianluigi Buffon should walk it if there is any justice.

Mike.

zAbbo

a whole 4 threads below - http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055002348

The shame of it mike

mike65

Sh1te! As less opaque title would have helped eirebhoy.

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

12 in the prem
8 in serie a
6 in la liga
2 in bundesliga
1 in championnat
1 retired!!

is that a fair breakdown on the standard of the leagues in relation to each other?
i would tend to think so

Jonny Arson

Cannavaro and Buffon have been head and shoulders above the rest for both clubs and countries. I reckon it will go to Cannavaro to top off his perfect year, just can't see it going to Buffon since he is a goalkeeper and for the latter part of the year has been rotting in Serie B

county

Ronaldinho by a country mile

kinaldo

Call_me_al wrote:

12 in the prem
8 in serie a
6 in la liga
2 in bundesliga
1 in championnat
1 retired!!

is that a fair breakdown on the standard of the leagues in relation to each other?
i would tend to think so

So u think the Prem standard is twice as good as La Liga?

Attractive Nun

Call_me_al wrote:

12 in the prem
8 in serie a
6 in la liga
2 in bundesliga
1 in championnat
1 retired!!

is that a fair breakdown on the standard of the leagues in relation to each other?
i would tend to think so

Eh, no. Not a chance is the Premiership twice as good as La Liga.

IMO, tis more like
1) La Liga
2) Premiership
3) Zinedine Zidane retired league of his own
4) Serie A
5) Championnat
=5) Bundesliga


Anyway, I'd probably give it to Cannavaro, unless Ronaldinho can regain his constistency quickly.

el rabitos

mike65 wrote:

Adriano (Inter Milan, Brazil),
Michael Ballack (Chelsea, Germany),
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus, Italy),
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid, Italy),
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal),
Petr Cech (Chelsea, Czech Republic),
Deco (Barcelona, Portugal),
Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast),
Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana),
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona, Cameroon),
Luis Figo (Inter Milan, Portugal),
Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan, Italy),
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, England),
Thierry Henry (Arsenal, France),
Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil),
Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen, Germany),
Philippe Lahm (Bayern Munich, Germany),
Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England),
Jens Lehmann (Arsenal, Germany),
Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan, Italy),
Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy),
Franck Ribery (Marseille, France),
Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal, Argentina),
Ronaldinho (Barcelona, Brazil),
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England),
Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal, Czech Republic),
Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine),
Lilian Thuram (Barcelona, France),
Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan, France),
Zinedine Zidane (retired, France).

Mike.

:eek:

pirlo ftw

Xavi6

So many players in there based on their name not on how well they played. Ronaldinho, Riquleme, Figo, Vieira, Rooney, Adriano - none of them did anything to warrant such an award.

The heart says Zidane for the title, but really it should go to someone like Cannavaro or even Miroslav Klose. Top scorer in the World Cup for the second consecutive time and also top of the Bundesliga scoring charts. The guy deserves to be rewarded for his efforts.

tdv

Thats a funny looking list. What the f*ck did Michael Essien do to get in there excepet having 3 good games for Ghana in the world cup. And Adriano & Lamaprd just round it all up. Juninho should be in there so should Ayala who had a great season with Valencia last year & was Argentinas best player at the world cup. Out of that last my top 3 would be

1.Cannavaro
2.Kaka
3.Zidane

tdv

el rabitos wrote:

:eek:

pirlo ftw

Why is Pirlo such a shock? He had a solid season with Milan & was one of the best players in the world cup.

kinaldo

tdv wrote:

Why is Pirlo such a shock? He had a solid season with Milan & was one of the best players in the world cup.

I think the eek was for the highlighted Cristian Ronaldo and ftw was a support of Pirlo

Nunu

Xavi6 wrote:

So many players in there based on their name not on how well they played. Ronaldinho, Riquleme, Figo, Vieira, Rooney, Adriano - none of them did anything to warrant such an award.

The heart says Zidane for the title, but really it should go to someone like Cannavaro or even Miroslav Klose. Top scorer in the World Cup for the second consecutive time and also top of the Bundesliga scoring charts. The guy deserves to be rewarded for his efforts.

Ronaldo was top scorer in 2002, but I agree with you. Klose would be in my top 3.
I don't like Samuel Eto'o but I do think he was the best performer on the planet in the last 12 months. He won't win it because he didn't play in the World Cup.
Terry(Chelsea), Juninho(Lyon), Zambrotta(Juve), Fabregas(Arsenal) and Larsson(Barca)-although he wasn't a regular starter are worthy of top 25 at least!

DaBreno

Cannavaro Ftw.

Has a defender ever won this award?

el rabitos

tdv wrote:

Why is Pirlo such a shock? He had a solid season with Milan & was one of the best players in the world cup.

the shock is the name i have in bold, christiano ronaldo.

pirlo ftw = pirlo should win

MrJoeSoap

DaBreno wrote:

Cannavaro Ftw.

Has a defender ever won this award?

Nope, only Maldini and Roberto Carlos have been in the top 3.

I wouldn't go putting money on a defender .

eirebhoy

Someone mentioned Juninho. I don't watch much French football but if he's not the best player in France I'd love to know who is. Quality player and seems to be on form in the Champions league this season as usual.

Does anyone know if the voting has been done already? I'd be pretty sure it has but just to be certain in case I can find odds on it. If the voting has already taken place and there's a clear odds on favourite then you know he's the winner.

Call_me_al wrote:

12 in the prem
8 in serie a
6 in la liga
2 in bundesliga
1 in championnat
1 retired!!

is that a fair breakdown on the standard of the leagues in relation to each other?
i would tend to think so

You could probably list hundreds of players more deserving to be on that list than Rooney. It's incredible that the English hype has spread worldwide.

Would Rooney, Cech, Essien and Ronaldo be in there if they performed equally as well in another league? No chance. Luca Toni plays for Fiorentina so he's not on the list. It has no reflection on the standard of the league.

Gillie

Canavarro
Buffon
Henry

(What the hell is Frank Lampard in that list for???)

Tonio

No one really stands out. I reckon Etoo could do it as he didn't have to appear in the world cup. Many of the other top names had a poor world cup and that may have affected their chances....

DerekD Goldfish

No Dave Mulcahy what a disgrace

patmac

Surprised Beckham isn't in it as he usually is:
2005:18th, 2004:15th, 2003:7th, 2002:8th, 2001:2nd, 2000:6th, 1999:2nd,
Shows that he's consistently the most overated player in the world, it's actually a load of old bollix really Roy Keane wasn't in the top 50 in 1999 when Utd won the treble

loyatemu

Riquelme maybe - drove Villareal to the semis of the European Cup, good perfomances at the World Cup until that moron Pekerman took him off against Germany.

Chardee MacDennis

kinaldo wrote:

So u think the Prem standard is twice as good as La Liga?

thats not what i meant, but more the order in which they are repersented portrays how i would rate the leagues (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc) not that the prem is 12 times better than championnat etc.

Raskolnikov

county wrote:

Ronaldinho by a country mile

Great for Barcelona last year but crap in the World Cup and crap on La Liga this year (so far). Don't know if the World Cup or this years performance are supposed to count.

c m

el rabitos wrote:

the shock is the name i have in bold, christiano ronaldo.

pirlo ftw = pirlo should win

what shock??? he was the best young player in the world cup by a mile and has been tearing up the premiership ever since. he is pure quality and a defenders nightmare and his current form justifies a nomination way ahead of at least 10 on that list ie. the vastly overrated rooneys and lampards of this world. i think it should go to either cannavaro or gerrard(he scored 23 goals and won the fa cup single handed)

Raskolnikov

My player of the year would be Jens Lehmann. Unlike a lot of other players on that list, he has excelled in league form, Champions League and in the World Cup. Undoubtedly for Arsenal, Super Jens was the difference between Arsenal finishing 4th and Champions League qualification than 5th and UEFA Cup obscurity. His performances in the Champions League itself were amazing. Again, Lehmann was the difference between Arsenal progressing and being knocked out several times. World Cup form too was brilliant, just a shame we didn't get to see him in the final!

eirebhoy

Ronaldinho doesn't deserve to win it this year but in fairness to him, the difference in Kaka's performance and his performance at the world cup was more a reflection on how the opposition treated them. Croatia had 3 or 4 players on Ronnie at all times. He had an excellent game against Japan with a bit more space. He didn't do much wrong at the WC but was terrible in the CL final.

iregk

I think we are all in agreement that the world player of the year award lost its value a long time ago. Its a mark of the most popular player in the world now rather than the best. Sometimes though this does go hand in hand.

The ballon d'or is a much more respected one from a fans point of view. In Europe anyway.

A lot of players I don't think deserve to be on the list, Adriano, Rooney, Deco, Essien, Viera, Drogba to name a few. Personally I'm stuck between Cannavaro, Pirlo and Klose.

Players shoudl not deserve it because they had a good world cup. Zidane was very ordinary in his retirement year for Real, had a stormer of a WC and all of a sudden is being labled as the best player of the year!!! Its over the whole year not just the WC. Cannavaro has been the best player in Italy and the world in my opinion for about 8 years! Pirlo had a great season for Milan and was just class in the WC. Klose has been lethal in the bundesliga for a few seasons and top scorer at the world cup.

Seaneh

Kaka
Pirlo
Gattauso


Not being Biased or anything!


In serious mode now!

Buffon
Canna
Pirlo


Italys 3 most imporetant players in order of merit.

I think Goal Keepers and defenders get a bum deal in these lists, Paolo Maldini not winning it 3 years ago was a disgrace, infact Paolo Maldini not winning it about 5 times is a disgrace!

Bounty Hunter

Seaneh wrote:

I think Goal Keepers and defenders get a bum deal in these lists, Paolo Maldini not winning it 3 years ago was a disgrace, infact Paolo Maldini not winning it about 5 times is a disgrace!

because of this fact i think Thierry Henry will borrow Ronaldinho's crown for a year with an honourable 2nd and 3rd to Buffon and Cannavaro

eirebhoy

I'm suprised nobody is mentioning Toni. Surely the Golden Boot winner (and World cup winner) should be in there? Adriano's inclusion is ridiculous. He hasn't played well in about 2 years.

Seaneh

Actuallt Toni should be in the list, but ah well.

WhiteWashMan

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm suprised nobody is mentioning Toni. Surely the Golden Boot winner (and World cup winner) should be in there?

i dont see why.

if people here think that having a crap world cup is a reason for them not to be included, i fail to see why having a good world cup is reason to be included.

surely it should be about their play for an entire season?

and i would say buffon

DerekD Goldfish

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm suprised nobody is mentioning Toni. Surely the Golden Boot winner (and World cup winner) should be in there? Adriano's inclusion is ridiculous. He hasn't played well in about 2 years.

well he is pretty famous and thats what this award is about it has little to do with who was actualy the best player

eirebhoy

WhiteWashMan wrote:

i dont see why.

if people here think that having a crap world cup is a reason for them not to be included, i fail to see why having a good world cup is reason to be included.

surely it should be about their play for an entire season?

and i would say buffon

As I said, he won the Golden Boot with 33 Seria A goals. Not to be mistaken with the Golden Shoe.

Royale with Cheese

Give it to Jens Lehmann. Absolute legend.

Carcharodon

From peoples views on here Cannavaro is the most popular choice by a good bit.
Wouldn't argue with that but Zidane should get a special award for for that headbut too, class

el rabitos

c m wrote:

what shock??? he was the best young player in the world cup by a mile and has been tearing up the premiership ever since. he is pure quality and a defenders nightmare and his current form justifies a nomination way ahead of at least 10 on that list ie. the vastly overrated rooneys and lampards of this world. i think it should go to either cannavaro or gerrard(he scored 23 goals and won the fa cup single handed)

personally i'd be hard pressed to get ronaldo into a list of the best wingers of the year, never mind best player, but to each their own. i'm not going to turn it into a 'how much ronaldo sucks' thread.

tdv

el rabitos wrote:

the shock is the name i have in bold, christiano ronaldo.

pirlo ftw = pirlo should win

ah right

Rikand

Seaneh wrote:

Kaka
Pirlo
Gattauso


Not being Biased or anything!


In serious mode now!

Buffon
Canna
Pirlo

okay, so on your list of milan players, kaka, is number 1....but on your list of world players, pirlo is in the top 3 and not kaka ?

Pepe LeFrits

Hope Henry gets it. He's been excellent as per usual this year, perhaps not quite the best, but he's been the best before and not gotten it so it'd be justice.

Rikand

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Hope Henry gets it. He's been excellent as per usual this year, perhaps not quite the best, but he's been the best before and not gotten it so it'd be justice.

Justice has no place in a popularity contest sadly!