The vote for the sixth annual REC.SPORT.SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR vote
is over. 31 days of voting have passed and 90 votes were processed.
Note, that this year, it has also been possible to vote through the World
Wide Web.
Welcome back next year - from the 1st of January to the 31st of January
in 1999 for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Player Of the Year 1998!
The contents of this article:
1. Previous Winners.
2. Rules.
3. Results.
4. Comments of the President of the RSSSF.
5. Name of voters.
6. Demographic analysis of the voters.
7. Final Word
1. PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1992: MARCO VAN BASTEN, Milan AC, The Netherlands 1993: ROBERTO BAGGIO, Juventus FC, Italy 1994: ROMARIO, Flamengo, Brazil 1995: GEORGE WEAH, Milan AC, Liberia 1996: RONALDO, FC Barcelona, Brazil
2. RULES
The rules of the Rec.Sport.Soccer Player Of the Year vote is a modification
of the rules used by France Football for their Player of the Year award.
1. All valid votes have to submitted between the 1st of January at
00:00 MET (Mid European Time) and the 31st of January at midnight MET.
2. The vote, held each year, represents the calendar year which just
have ended at the time of the vote.
3. Each vote must by sent to the Vote-taker or co-votetakers.
4. The vote must be submitted on a form including the following information:
Name of voter and his country of birth and country of residence.
5. The rest of vote should list five players in order.
6. No more than two players of the same nationality is allowed.
7. A player need to have been active during the preceding calendar to
elegible to vote for.
3. RESULTS
REC.SPORT.SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR 1997
The columns are:
Position
Name of Player
Name of Club he is playing for (as official as possible, space limit)
Nationality
1P = First Places
2P = Second Places
3P = Third Places
4P = Fourth Places
5P = Fifth Places
Total Number of Points
POS NAME CLUB COUNTRY 1P 2P 3P 4P 5P TOTAL
================================================================================
1."Ronaldo" FC Internazionale [1] Brazil 30 19 10 6 8 276
2.Zinedine Zidane Juventus FC France 9 8 11 7 5 129
3.Gabriel Batistuta Fiorentina AC Argentina 6 8 1 4 2 75
4.Dennis Bergkamp Arsenal FC Netherlands 3 6 6 4 3 68
5."Roberto Carlos" Real Madrid CF Brazil 2 2 5 5 8 51
6.Predrag Mijatovic Real Madrid CF Yugoslavia 5 2 3 2 4 50
7.Alessandro Del Piero Juventus FC Italy 2 2 5 5 3 46
8.Marcelo Salas CA River Plate Chile 1 4 2 4 3 38
9."Raúl" Real Madrid CF Spain 1 2 5 2 2 34
10.Peter Schmeichel Manchester United FC Denmark 1 2 5 1 2 32
11.Youri Djorkaeff FC Internazionale France 1 4 3 2 24
12."Edmundo" CR Vasco da Gama Brazil 5 1 22
Andreas Möller BV Borussia Dortmund Germany 1 3 3 2 22
14.Andrei Shevchenko Dinamo Kyiv Ukraine 2 1 2 1 21
15."Romário" Valencia CF Brazil 2 1 2 18
16.Gianfranco Zola Chelsea FC Italy 1 2 1 16
17.Lilian Thuram Parma AC France 1 2 2 1 15
18.Ryan Giggs Manchester United FC Wales 1 1 3 1 14
Clarence Seedorf Real Madrid CF Netherlands 1 1 2 2 14
20.Alan Shearer Newcastle United FC England 1 1 2 1 13
21.Steve McManaman Liverpool FC England 1 1 2 12
22.David Beckham Manchester United FC England 1 2 3 10
"Jardel" FC Porto Brazil 2 10
Luis Enrique FC Barcelona Spain 1 1 1 10
25.Dmitriy Alenichev FK Spartak Moskva Russia 1 1 9
Marcelo Zalayeta CA Peñarol Uruguay 1 1 9
27.Mark Bosnich Aston Villa FC Australia 1 1 1 8
Paul Ince Liverpool FC [2] England 1 2 1 8
Fernando Redondo Real Madrid CF Argentina 1 1 1 8
30.Krasimir Balakov VfB Stuttgart Bulgaria 1 2 7
Eric Cantona Manchester United FC France 1 1 7
Paulo Sousa BV Borussia Dortmund Portugal 1 1 7
Matthias Sammer BV Borussia Dortmund Germany 1 1 7
34.Oliver Bierhoff Udinese Calcio Germany 1 2 6
"Figo" FC Barcelona Portugal 1 1 1 6
Robbie Fowler Liverpool FC England 1 1 6
Juninho Atlético Madrid [3] Brazil 1 2 6
Harry Kewell Leeds United FC Australia 1 1 6
Edwin van der Sar AFC Ajax Netherlands 1 1 6
Davor Suker Real Madrid CF Croatia 1 1 6
41.Eupremio Carruezzo Cagliari Calcio Italy 1 5
"Denílson" São Paulo FC Brazil 1 1 5
"Doriva" Cl. Atlético Mineiro Brazil 1 5
Alexander Filimonov FK Spartak Moskva Russia 1 5
Jurgen Kohler BV Borussia Dortmund Germany 1 1 5
Marc Overmars Arsenal FC [4] Netherlands 1 5
Angelo Peruzzi Juventus FC Italy 1 5
Allan Ravn Brøndbyernes IF Denmark 1 5
"Ricardinho" Girondins Bordeaux[5] Brazil 1 5
Karl-Heinz Riedle Liverpool FC [6] Germany 1 1 5
Oleg Salenko Istanbulspor K Russia 1 5
David Seaman Arsenal FC England 1 5
Jaap Stam PSV Netherlands 1 5
Marc Wilmots FC Schalke 04 Belgium 1 5
Eric Wynalda San Jose Clash USA 1 5
56.Laurent Blanc Olymp. Marseille [7] France 1 4
Pierluigi Casiraghi SS Lazio Italy 1 4
Andy Cole Manchester United FC England 1 1 4
Ciro Ferrara Juventus FC Italy 1 4
Enzo Francescoli CA River Plate Uruguay 1 1 4
Ruud Gullit Chelsea FC Netherlands 1 4
Filippo Inzaghi Juventus FC [8] Italy 1 4
Jari Litmanen AFC Ajax Finland 1 4
Diego Maradona CA Boca Juniors Argentina 2 4
Allan Nielsen Brøndbyernes IF Denmark 1 4
Ariel Ortega Valencia CF Argentina 1 4
Alvaro Recoba FC Internazionale [9] Uruguay 1 1 4
Jamie Redknapp Liverpool FC England 1 4
Paul Scholes Manchester United FC England 1 4
"Sergi" FC Barcelona Spain 1 4
Olaf Thon FC Schalke 04 Germany 1 4
72.Shota Arveladze AFC Ajax [10] Georgia 1 3
Khodadad Azizi 1.FC Köln Germany 1 3
Roberto Baggio Bologna FC [11] Italy 1 3
Roman Berezovsky Zenit St.Peterburg Armenia 1 3
Zoubaier Beya SC Freiburg Tunisia 1 3
José Luis Chilavert CA Vélez Sarsfield Paraguay 1 3
Sinisa Mihajlovic Sampdoria UC Yugoslavia 1 3
Vincenzo Montella Sampdoria UC Italy 1 3
Sergei Rebrov Dinamo Kyiv Ukraine 1 1 3
George Weah Milan AC Liberia 1 3
82.Faustino Asprilla Newcastle United FC Colombia 1 2
Phil Babb Liverpool FC Ireland 1 2
Fabio Cannavaro Parma AC Italy 1 2
Didier Deschamps Juventus FC France 1 2
"Dunga" Jubilo Iwata Brazil 1 2
João V. Pinto SL Benfica Portugal 1 2
Jordi Lardin RCD Espanyol Spain 1 2
Brian Laudrup Rangers FC Denmark 2 2
John Markovski Carlton Australia 1 2
Marco Negri Rangers FC [12] Italy 1 2
Robert Pires FC Metz France 1 2
"Rivaldo" FC Barcelona [13] Brazil 1 2
Gareth Southgate Aston Villa FC England 1 2
Juan Sebastian Verón Sampdoria UC Argentina 1 2
Gianluca Vialli Chelsea FC Italy 1 2
97.Karim Bagheri Arminia Bielefeld[14] Iran 1 1
Dan Eggen Brøndbyernes IF Norway 1 1
Matt Elliott Leicester City FC England 1 1
Marcelo Gallardo CA River Plate Argentina 1 1
Danny Hay Perth Glory [15] New Zealand 1 1
Dario Hubner Brescia Calcio Italy 1 1
Jafar Irismetov Dustlik Tashkent Uzbekistan 1 1
Ronny Johnsen Manchester United FC Norway 1 1
Jürgen Klinsmann Sampdoria UC [16] Germany 1 1
Patrick Kluivert Milan AC [17] Netherlands 1 1
Øyvind Leonhardsen Wimbledon FC Norway 1 1
Jiri Nemec FC Schalke 04 Czech Republic 1 1
Sunday Oliseh AFC Ajax [18] Nigeria 1 1
Michael Owen Liverpool FC England 1 1
Gianluca Pagliuca FC Internazionale Italy 1 1
John Piekarski (CBS) USA 1 1
Teddy Sheringham Tottenham Hotspur FC England 1 1
Natipong Sritong-In Thai Farmers Bank Thailand 1 1
Iván Zamorano FC Internazionale Chile 1 1
Previous clubs in 1997:
[1] FC Barcelona
[2] FC Internazionale
[3] Middlesbrough FC
[4] AFC Ajax
[5] Paraná Clube
[6] BV Borussia Dortmund
[7] FC Barcelona
[8] BC Atalanta
[9] Nacional (Montevideo)
[10] Trabzonspor K
[11] Milan AC
[12] Perugia Calcio
[13] RC Deportivo La Coruña
[14] Piroozi
[15] Central United (Auckland)
[16] FC Bayern München; now Tottenham Hotspur FC
[17] AFC Ajax
[18] 1.FC Köln
"Denílson" Denílson de Oliveira
"Doriva" Dorival Guidoni Júnior
"Dunga" Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri
"Edmundo" Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto
"Figo" Luís Madeira Figo
"Jardel" Mário Jardel Almeida Ribeiro
"Juninho" Oswaldo Giroldo Jr.
"Raúl" Raúl González
"Ricardinho" Ricardo Luis Pozzi
"Rivaldo" Rivaldo Victor Borba Ferreira
"Roberto Carlos" Roberto Carlos da Silva
"Romário" Romário de Souza Farias
"Ronaldo" Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima
"Sergi" Sergio Barjuan
4. Comments of the President Some Reflections on the Vote ============================ This year, once more, the RSS voters have confirmed the verdicts of the national coaches (in the FIFA poll) as well as the France Football poll: Ronaldo was indeed the best player of 1997, albeit not with quite the ridiculous margin given by the FIFA vote. Best of the rest, and well-deserved, Zinedine Zidane, who clearly distanced himself from the pack led by Gabriel Batistuta, rather overlooked in the other polls, Dennis Bergkamp, Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatovic, and Alessandro Del Piero. All these players got multiple mentions as "best player of 1997", as indeed did 3 others (shooting star Shevchenko, old master Romário and Jardel) who finished somewhat lower. The top-10 is completed by Marcelo Salas, Raúl, and, reclaiming his title as best 'keeper, Peter Schmeichel. A well-balanced vote, and it will be interesting to see how all these top-10 players, from nine (!) different countries, will perform in France 1998 - indeed, all played a role, most of them an important one, in bringing their country there (inasfar as they had to qualify of course). Cheers, Karel Stokkermans
5. The Names of the Voters. 1 Marco Paserman 2 Jean-Paul Donda 3 Michael Vraney 4 Chris Applegate 5 Wink Cushing 6 Paul Mettewie 7 Pedro Vasco Gomes Ribeiro 8 Manuel Mendonça 9 John Beuker 10 Patrick Keenan 11 Markian Jaworsky 12 Karel Stokkermans 13 Steve Jones 14 Libor Laubacher 15 Kenneth Chan 16 Gabriel Rossetto 17 Stephen Davies 18 Andrzej M Zlotkowski 19 Juan Grana 20 Matthew Brown 21 Ricardo Esparta 22 Adnan Ahmad Farooqui 23 Brian Milne 24 Robert Kimmerle 25 Alex Fowler 26 Sergio Cossio 27 Alfredo Arnaud 28 Doug Green 29 Davide Rota 30 Poosit Srirojanapinyo 31 Gustavo Bastos 32 Guilherme Silva 33 Didier Fort 34 Søren Elbech 35 Laurent de Menditte 36 Nenad Milenovic 37 Troels Johnsen 38 Raul Torre Romero 39 Metteo Angarano 40 Pawel Mogielnicki 41 Mirko Hall 42 Felix Laya 43 Alan Macgowan 44 Rastko Cvekic 45 Ivan Nogueira 46 Ivan Nesic 47 Tatiane Moreschi 48 Clovis Henrique de Paula 49 Frederic Miossec 50 Miguel González 51 Peter Kuin 52 Arvids Stashans 53 Kent Hedlundh 54 Robert Chapman 55 Kareem Elwakil 56 Jeff Fidler 57 Paul Robinson 58 Duan Stokes 59 Miguel José Lima 60 Vlad Doob 61 Walter García-Fontes 62 Ashwin Harichund 63 Brian Farenell 64 Jérôme Faugeras 65 Almantas Lauzadis 66 Yaakov Yoffe 67 Igor Brainman 68 Marcello Perra 69 Zlatan Skobic 70 Masafumi Sugano 71 Edward Polovoy 72 Luca Argiolas 73 Heigo Niilop 74 Dirk Göhmann 75 Lars Aarhus 76 Marcio de Castro 77 Alexander Makarovsky 78 Thomas Esamie 79 Sinisha Nikolic 80 Eugene Shtutin 81 Ouajdi Korbaa 82 Paolo Natile 83 Florencia Meilan 84 Andres Sorensen 85 Conrado Daws 86 JP Caillault 87 Scott Boniface 88 Andrey Panov 89 Sergey Titov 90 Gabriel Campolina
6. Demographic analysis. Birth Afghanistan 1 Argentina 1 Australia 3 Bolivia 1 Brazil 11 Canada 1 Chile 1 Czech Republic 1 Denmark 3 France 3 Germany 1 Hongkong 1 Ireland 1 Italy 6 Japan 1 Netherlands 3 New Zealand 2 Norway 1 Poland 2 Portugal 2 Romania 1 South Africa 2 Spain 3 Sweden 1 Thailand 1 Tunisia 1 UK 7 Uruguay 4 USA 8 USSR 10 (Bls 1, Est 1, Lat 1, Lit 1, Mol 1, Rus 3, Ukr 2) Vietnam 1 Yugoslavia 5 Residence Argentina 1 Australia 5 Austria 1 Brazil 9 Canada 5 Czech Republic 1 Denmark 2 Ecuador 1 Estonia 1 Finland 1 France 6 Germany 2 Hongkong 1 Ireland 1 Israel 2 Italy 5 Lithuania 1 Netherlands 2 New Zealand 3 Norway 1 Poland 1 Portugal 2 Russia 2 South Africa 2 Spain 3 Sweden 1 Thailand 1 UK 7 Ukraine 1 Uruguay 2 USA 15 Yugoslavia 2
7. FINAL WORD
In addition to the commenss made by our President, I would like to
point out that for the first time, a player has won our prestigious
award twice.
A big THANKS to everyoen who voted and please vote again next year!
Also a special mention to Pawel for his assistance.
THIS VOTE IS COURTESY OF
REC.SPORT.SOCCER STATISTICS FOUNDATION
BROUGHT TO YOU
by
Kent HEDLUNDH STOKKERMANS Karel
Vice-President of the RSSSF President of the RSSSF
Prepared and maintained by Kent Hedlundh for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Kent Hedlundh (kenth@cs.umu.se)
Last updated: 31 Jan 2002
(C) Copyright Kent Hedlundh and RSSSF 1998/2002
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.