World Soccer - UK (2022-01)

2021 AWARDSRESULTS

breathtakingstartto theseasonput
himright amongthecontenders too.
Weaskedthevotingpaneltoselect
fiveplayersin order, withtheirfirst
choicereceivingfivepoints,second
place receivingfourpoints,andsoon.
Interestingly, if we hadonlyasked for
onename,Jorginhowouldhavetaken

therunners-upspot, ratherthan
third where he ultimatelyendedup.
TheUEFA Playerof theYearcan
consolehimselfbybeingoneofthekey
meninthisyear’sWorldSoccerMen’s
Teamofthe Year: Italy. Theirmanager,
RobertoMancini,wasalsoa runaway
leaderintheMen’sManagerofthe

Year, with only ChelseaandThomas

Tuchelrivallingthemaschallengers.

Itisrareforateamtowinthe

award whilealsoendingtheiryearso

disappointingly. Italy’sfailure to qualify

fornextyear’sWorldCupautomatically

wasmadeall themoresurprisingby

theirexcellenceinthesummer. Indeed,

itcontinuesanextraordinary narrative
fortheteamand their coach:Mancini
wasrightlyhailed forliftinghiscountry
fromthedespairoffailingtoqualify
forthe 2018 WorldCup in Russiato
Europeanchampions.Missingouton
Qatar wouldbeanotherextraordinary
twistin thetalebut,nevertheless,their
ManageroftheYear...RobertoMancini

19 80s

1982 Paolo Rossi

Juventus& Italy

1983 Zico

Udinese& Brazil

1984 MichelPlatini

Juventus& France

1985 MichelPlatini

Juventus& France

1986 DiegoMaradona

Napoli& Argentina

1987 RuudGullit

Milan& Netherlands

1988 Marco vanBasten

Milan& Netherlands

1989 RuudGullit

Milan& Netherlands

19 90s

1990 LotharMatthaus

Internazionale& WestGermany

1991 Jean-Pierre Papin

Marseille& France

1992 Marco vanBasten

Milan& Netherlands

1993 Roberto Baggio

Juventus& Italy

1994 Paolo Maldini

Milan& Italy

1995 GianlucaVialli

Juventus& Italy

1996 Ronaldo

Barcelona& Brazil

1997 Ronaldo

Barcelona/Internazionale& Brazil

1998 ZinedineZidane

Juventus& France

1999 Rivaldo

Barcelona& Brazil

2000s

2000 LuisFigo

Barcelona/RealMadrid& Portugal

2001 Michael Owen

Liverool& Enland

2002 Ronaldo

Internazionale/RealMadrid& Brazil

2003 Pavel Nedved

Juventus& Czech Republic

2004 Ronaldinho

Barcelona& Brazil

2005 Ronaldinho

Barcelona& Brazil

2006 Fabio Cannavaro

Juventus/RealMadrid& Italy

2007 Kaka

Milan& Brazil

2008 Cristiano Ronaldo

ManchesterUnited & Portugal

2009 LionelMessi

Barcelona& Argentina

2010 s

2010 Xavi

Barcelona& Spain

2011 LionelMessi

Barcelona& Aentina

2012 LionelMessi

Barcelona& Argentina

2013 Cristiano Ronaldo

RealMadrid& Portugal

2014 Cristiano Ronaldo

RealMadrid& Portugal

2015 LionelMessi

Barcelona& Argentina

2016 Cristiano Ronaldo

RealMadrid& Portugal

2017 Cristiano Ronaldo

RealMadrid& Portugal

2018 LukaModric

RealMadrid& Croatia

2019 LionelMessi

Barcelona& Argentina

PreviousWorldPlayerwinners

Missingoutonthe

ChampionsLeague,

orinternationalglory

withPoland,meant

thatLewandowski’s

competitionforthis

year’sawardwasmuch

stifferthanlastyear