The vote for the fifth annual REC.SPORT.SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR vote
is over. 31 days of voting have passed and 139 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 1998 for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Player Of the Year 1997!
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
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 1996
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."Ronaldinho" FC Barcelona [1] Brazil 29 31 15 12 10 348
2.Alan Shearer Newcastle United [2] England 26 11 14 11 3 241
3.Matthias Sammer BV Borussia Dortmund Germany 17 12 16 14 6 215
4.George Weah Milan AC Liberia 5 8 12 11 1 116
5.Eric Cantona Manchester United FC France 12 6 5 5 5 114
6.Jürgen Klinsmann FC Bayern München Germany 11 3 5 3 5 93
7.Davor Suker Real Madrid CF [3] Croatia 4 8 5 5 10 87
8.Alessandro Del Piero Milan AC Italy 6 2 5 7 6 73
9.Youri Djorkaeff FC Internazionale [4] France 2 7 4 8 4 70
10.Gabriel Batistuta Fiorentina AC Argentina 4 6 3 1 1 56
11.José Luis Chilavert CA Vélez Sarsfield Paraguay 1 3 1 2 3 27
12.Nwankwo Kanu FC Internazionale [5] Nigeria 2 3 3 1 24
Karel Poborsky Manchester United [6] Czech Rep. 2 3 3 1 24
14.Fabrizio Ravanelli Middlesbrough FC [7] Italy 1 2 1 2 3 23
15.David Beckham Manchester United FC England 1 2 1 2 17
16.Enzo Francescoli CA River Plate Uruguay 1 1 2 1 16
17.Robbie Fowler Liverpool FC England 3 1 1 15
"Raúl" Real Madrid CF Spain 1 1 3 2 15
19.Alen Boksic Juventus FC [8] Croatia 4 1 14
Steve McManaman Liverpool FC England 1 2 1 2 14
Predrag Mijatovic Real Madrid CF [9] Yugoslavia 2 1 2 14
Peter Schmeichel Manchester United FC Denmark 2 2 14
23.Clarence Seedorf Real Madrid CF [10] Netherlands 1 1 2 1 13
Ole Gunnar Solskjær Manchester United [11]Norway 1 2 1 13
Zinedine Zidane Juventus FC [12] France 3 1 2 13
26.Laurent Blanc FC Barcelona [13] France 1 2 5 12
Didier Deschamps Juventus FC France 2 1 1 12
Andreas Köpke Olymp. Marseille [14] Germany 2 1 1 12
Fernando Redondo Real Madrid CF Argentina 1 1 1 12
David Seaman Arsenal FC England 1 4 1 12
31.Gheorghe Popescu FC Barcelona Romania 2 1 11
Gianluca Vialli Chelsea FC [15] Italy 1 1 2 11
33.Paolo Maldini Milan AC Italy 1 2 2 10
34.Kasey Keller Millwall FC USA 1 4 9
35.Paul Gascoigne Rangers FC England 1 1 1 8
Carlos Valderrama Tampa Bay Mutiny Colombia 2 1 8
Christian Ziege FC Bayern München Germany 1 1 8
38.Ronald de Boer AFC Ajax Netherlands 1 1 7
Ali Daei Al Sadd Iran 1 1 7
"Leonardo" Paris St. Germain [16]Brazil 2 1 7
Bernard Lama Paris Saint Germain France 1 2 7
Brian Laudrup Rangers FC Denmark 1 1 7
"Preki" Kansas City Wizards USA 1 1 7
44.Marc Desailly Milan AC France 2 6
"Figo" FC Barcelona Portugal 1 1 6
Jari Litmanen AFC Ajax Finland 3 6
Luc Nilis PSV Belgium 1 1 6
Ariel Ortega CA River Plate Argentina 1 1 6
49."Alexis" Real Betis Balompié Spain 1 5
Jean-Marc Bosman no club Belgium 1 5
Jorge Cadete Celtic FC Portugal 1 5
Antonio Conte Juventus FC Italy 2 1 5
"Djalminha" SE Palmeiras Brazil 1 5
Dieter Eilts SV Werder Bremen Germany 1 5
Ryan Giggs Manchester United FC Wales 1 3 5
Milinko Pantic Club Atlético Madrid Yugoslavia 1 1 5
Marino Rahmberg Derby County FC [17] Sweden 1 5
Manuel Rui Costa Fiorentina AC Portugal 1 1 5
Dejan Savicevic Milan AC Yugoslavia 1 5
60.Vítor Baía FC Barcelona [18] Portugal 1 2 4
Sol Campbell Tottenham Hotspur FC England 1 4
Jorge Campos Los Angeles Galaxy Mexico 1 4
Enrico Chiesa Parma AC [19] Italy 1 1 4
John Collins AS Monaco Scotland 1 4
"Giovanni" FC Barcelona [20] Brazil 1 4
"Kiko" Club Atlético Madrid Spain 1 4
Diego Maradona CA Boca Juniors Argentina 1 4
Paolo Montero Juventus FC [21] Uruguay 1 4
"Nadal" FC Barcelona Spain 1 4
Marc Overmars AFC Ajax Netherlands 1 4
Roberto Rios Real Betis Balompié Spain 1 4
72.Abdullah (Erkan) Trabzonspor K Turkey 1 3
Kennet Andersson Bologna FC Sweden 1 3
Karsten Bäron Hamburger SV Germany 1 3
Martin Dahlin AS Roma [22] Sweden 1 3
Ivan De La Peña FC Barcelona Spain 1 3
Paulo Di Canio Celtic FC Italy 1 3
Efan Ekoku Wimbledon FC Nigeria 1 3
José Guardiola Sala FC Barcelona Spain 1 3
Michael Laudrup Real Madrid CF Denmark 1 3
Tabaret Ramos NY/NJ Metrostars [23] USA 1 1 3
Sebastian Rozental Rangers FC [24] Chile 1 3
Mehmet Scholl FC Bayern München Germany 1 3
Diego Pablo Simeone Club Atlético Madrid Argentina 1 1 3
Natipong Sritong-In Thailand 1 3
"Ziganda" Athletic Club Bilbao Spain 1 3
87.Emanuel Amunike Sporting CP Nigeria 1 2
Dennis Bergkamp Arsenal FC Netherlands 2 2
Jesper Blomqvist Milan AC [25] Sweden 1 2
Hernán Crespo Parma AC [26] Argentina 1 2
Duncan Ferguson Everton FC Scotland 1 2
Ciro Ferrara Juventus FC Italy 1 2
Finidi George Real Betis Bal. [27] Nigeria 1 2
Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles Galaxy Ecuador 1 2
Steffen Iversen Tottenham Hotspur [28]Norway 1 2
Patrice Loko Paris Saint Germain France 1 2
Marcelo Otero Vicenza Calcio Uruguay 1 2
Stuart Pearce Nottingham Forest FC England 1 2
Angelo Peruzzi Juventus FC Italy 1 2
Robert Prosinecki Sevilla FC [29] Croatia 1 2
Christophe Sanchez Montpellier HSC France 1 2
Edwin van der Sar AFC Ajax Netherlands 1 2
Giuseppe Signori SS Lazio Italy 2 2
Paulo Sousa Juventus FC Portugal 1 2
Jaap Stam PSV Netherlands 1 2
Hristo Stoitchkov FC Barcelona [30] Bulgaria 2 2
Eric Wynalda San Jose Clash [31] USA 1 2
108.Célestine Babayaro RSC Anderlecht Nigeria 1 1
Krasimir Balakov VfB Stuttgart Bulgaria 1 1
Paul Barnes Burnley FC England 1 1
Harald M. Brattbakk Rosenborg BK Norway 1 1
Giovanni Élber VfB Stuttgart Brazil 1 1
Marco Etcheverry Los Angeles Galaxy Bolivia 1 1
Ruud Gullit Chelsea FC Netherlands 1 1
Cliff Hercules Slough Town FC England 1 1
Fernando Ruiz Hierro Real Madrid CF Spain 1 1
Erik Hoftun Rosenborg BK Norway 1 1
Pierre van Hooijdonk Celtic FC Netherlands 1 1
Valdas Ivanauskas Hamburger SV Lithuania 1 1
Robert Jarni Real Betis Balompié Croatia 1 1
Miroslav Kadlec 1.FC Kaiserslautern Czech Rep. 1 1
Roy Keane Manchester United FC Ireland 1 1
Andreas Möller BV Borussia Dortmund Germany 1 1
Pavel Nedved SS Lazio [32] Czech Rep. 1 1
Piotr Nowak TSV 1860 München Poland 1 1
Christian Panucci Milan AC Italy 1 1
Michele Paramatti Bologna FC Italy 1 1
"Raí" Paris Saint Germain Brazil 1 1
Anselmo Robbiato Fiorentina AC Italy 1 1
Gilles Rousset Heart of Midlothian France 1 1
Marcelo Salas CA River Plate Chile 1 1
Bent Skammelsrud Rosenborg BK Norway 1 1
Mark Viduka NK Croatia Zagreb Australia 1 1
Christian Vieri BC Atalanta Italy 1 1
Javier Zanetti FC Internazionale Argentina 1 1
Gianfranco Zola Chelsea FC [33] Italy 1 1
Previous clubs in 1996:
[1] PSV
[2] Blackburn Rovers
[3] Sevilla FC
[4] Paris Saint Germain FC
[5] AFC Ajax
[6] SK Slavia Praha
[7] Juventus FC
[8] SS Lazio
[ 9] Valencia CF
[10] Sampdoria UC
[11] Molde FK
[12] FC Girondins Bordeaux
[13] AJ Auxerre
[14] SG Eintracht Frankfurt
[15] Juventus FC
[16] Kashima Antlers
[17] Degerfors IF
[18] FC Porto
[19] Sampdoria UC
[20] Santos FC
[21] BC Atalanta
[22] VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach
[23] UANL
[24] Universidad Católica
[25] IFK Göteborg
[26] CA River Plate
[27] AFC Ajax
[28] Rosenborg BK
[29] FC Barcelona
[30] Parma AC
[31] VfL Bochum
[32] AC Sparta Praha
[33] Parma AC
Players' Full Names:
Alexis = Humberto Alexis Trujillo Oramas
Djalminha = Djalma Feitoso Dias
Giovanni = Giovanni Silva
Ivan De La Peña = Ivan De La Peña López
Kiko = Francisco Narváez Machón, "Kiko"
Leonardo = Leonardo Nascimento
Luis Figo = Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo
Nadal = Miguel Angel Nadal Homar
Preki = Preki Radosavljevic
Raí = Raí Souza de Oliveira
Raúl = Raúl Gonzalez Blanco
Ronaldinho = Ronaldo Luiz Nazário de Lima
Ziganda = José Angel Ziganda Lacunza, "Cuco"
4. Comments of the President Some Reflections on the Vote ============================ For the fifth year in a row, the RSS Voters have agreed with the verdict of the international coaches in their FIFA poll, awarding the prize of the best player of the year to youngstar Ronaldo, or Ronaldinho as he is known in his native Brazil. With the main international event of 1996, the European championship in England, being a huge disappointment as far as quality football was concerned, it comes as no surprise that of the first five players, three did not even play in that event, only Shearer and Sammer claiming top spots, the first for his prolific scoring in the event, the second for showing that maybe finally Germany may have found a worthy successor of Beckenbauer - and profiting, no doubt, from Germany's "winner bonus" and his win in the France Football poll (significantly enough, the French voters made Sammer a runaway winner, while only the Brits had Shearer clear at first; in all other demographic categories, Ronaldo lead the way, often by a clear margin). George Weah, last year's winner, seems to have profited from the exposure that 1995 gave him in North America, where he earned nearly half his points, while Cantona was rewarded for his brilliant come-back which proved so essential for Man United's double. No doubt many also wondered what he would have done to that French Euro team... The rest of the top-10 clearly distanced itself from the pack; Klinsmann overcoming meagre domestic form by his goal scoring feats in the UEFA Cup, Suker one of the few players to come out with an enhanced reputation from the European Championship, Del Piero the main star in Juventus' Champions' Cup win, Djorkaeff the only one to shine in France's dreadfully boring Euro 96 campaign, and Batistuta only the second South American in the top-10; his main success probably breaking Maradona's record of goals for Argentina. Finally, an honorary mention for the first 'keeper, Paraguay's José Luis Chilavert, not only a quality goalie but one of the most dangerous free kick specialists in the game at the moment. His place as best 'keeper of the world surely is well-deserved. Thanks to all who voted! Greetings in football, Karel Stokkermans
5. The Names of the Voters. Voters by Mail ============== 1 Kent Hedlundh 2 Thomas Esamie 3 Mark Jaworsky 4 Sam Abdalla 5 Marc Riese 6 Daniel Paserman 7 Steve Jones 8 Dennis Lee 9 Gerrit Stolte 10 Wink Cushing 11 David Graham 12 Patrick Keenan 13 David Arnold 14 Doug Green 15 Chris Allen 16 Andrzej Zlotkowski 17 Masafumi Sagano 18 John Beuker 19 Karel Stokkermans 20 Simon Gleave 21 Alvaro Soto Garcia 22 Petar Kolakovic 23 Hans Kost 24 Matthew Brown 25 Patrick Conway 26 Arturo Thiele-Sardina 27 Howard H. Hamilton 28 Robert B. Freeborn 29 David W. Ashton 30 Peter Gayde 31 Garry Archer 32 Brian Milne 33 Neil Sharp 34 Pawel D. Mogielnicki 35 Michel Rodriguez 36 Renaud Bannel 37 Laurent de Menditte 38 Philippe Moreau 39 Edwin Lee 40 David Recchia 41 Jean-Marie Digonnet 42 Soren Florin Elbech 43 Stephen Brand 44 Greg Walklet 45 Eric Boesenberg 46 Cyril Suquet 47 Almantas Lauzadis 48 Juan Pablo Andres 49 Jérôme Faugeras 50 David Longfield 51 Rui M. Ponte 52 Alain David 53 Bill Alexander 54 Christopher J. Herrera 55 Guillaume David Delbury 56 Nino Medves 57 Patrick Conley 58 Colin Morris 59 Jean-Pierre Caillault 60 Claude Waledisch 61 Guy Gersbach 62 Jérôme Charpentier 63 A Gordon Smith 64 Sebastien Doggwiller 65 Adrian Ungureanu 66 Silviu Stroescu 67 Arang Keshavarzian 68 Sergiu Dascalu 69 Marcel Barbulescu 70 R. Mehdi 71 David Dokun 72 Valentin Dragoi 73 Max Attar Feingold 74 Daunis Auers 75 Mueen Nawaz 76 Bo Jensen 77 Erick Bridoux 78 Frank Black 79 Ricardo Jamin 80 Robert Kimmerle 81 Enrique Paul Mettewie 82 Mark Losson 83 Jordi Riu 84 Romulus N. Filip 85 Philip Schwaeber 86 Fernando Lopes 87 Laurent Hyzy 88 Renee Stokes 89 Dan Ryazansky 90 Charlotte Wolter 91 Marc J. Osborne 92 Andy Oost 93 Muna Abu-Shaar 94 Mark Harrison Coker 95 Philip John Davies 96 Arnaud Guelfucci 97 Olivier Fourets 98 Mikael Jönsson Voters by WWW ============= W_1 Michael Dayen W_2 Ilias Makris W_3 Mikhail Cherny W_4 Knut-Einar Ilseng W_5 Ricardo Potters W_6 Ståle Tømmerås W_7 Matteo Angarano W_8 Magnus Mausethagen W_9 Ton Geurts W10 Irvin Jerez W11 Jack van Rijswijck W12 Décio Chiciuc Vital W13 Francesco Bardazzi W14 Victor M. González Servín W15 Vlado Vivoda W16 Keith Mills W17 Boris Herceg W18 Daniel Boese W19 Danilo Monaco W20 Lars Aarhus W21 Ariel Mazzarelli W22 Oziris Silva Pena W23 Bruno Escribano Salazar W24 Lucas Romano Martinez W25 Daniel Insa González W26 David Augustsson W27 Francesco Parigi W28 Geir Furuseth W29 Andreas Svanhem W30 David Valero Carreras W31 Emmanuel José Castro Serna W32 Amer Fazal-Rahman W33 Petr Plasil W34 Patrick Khoury W35 Eugene Shtutin W36 Marcello Perra W37 Seungsoo Lee W38 George Gracia W39 Tommy Nesbakk W40 Jorge Savoretti W41 Zoltan Csizmazia
6. Demographic analysis. Birth Afghanistan 1 Argentina 3 Australia 4 Belarus 1 Bolivia 1 Brazil 2 Canada 4 Chile 1 Croatia 2 Czechoslovakia 1 Denmark 1 Egypt 1 France 17 Germany 4 Greece 1 Honduras 1 Hungary 1 Indonesia 1 Iran 1 Ireland 2 Italy 6 Japan 1 Jordan 1 Lebanon 1 Lithuania 2 Mexico 3 Netherlands 5 Nigeria 1 Norway 6 Poland 2 Portugal 2 Romania 6 Russia 1 Saudi Arabia 2 Singapore 1 South Korea 1 Spain 7 Sweden 5 UK 13 Ukraine 1 USA 21 Vietnam 1 Residence Argentina 1 Australia 5 Austria 1 Brazil 2 Canada 9 Chile 1 Croatia 1 Czech Republic 1 Finland 2 France 11 Germany 2 Greece 1 Guinea 1 Hungary 2 Indonesia 1 Ireland 1 Israel 1 Italy 4 Latvia 1 Lebanon 1 Lithuania 1 Mexico 2 Netherlands 4 New Zealand 2 Norway 6 Poland 1 Portugal 2 Saudi Arabia 2 Singapore 1 South Africa 1 South Korea 1 Spain 6 Sweden 6 UK 9 USA 46
7. FINAL WORD
A big THANKS to everyone 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 1997/2002
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.