Predict the Top 3 for World Player of the Year

I would of given you 2003/2004. Henry was superb that season and Arsenal did something really significant.

I can't agree on last season, he was poor in alot of games in the league, was good in the Champions league without being your stand out player (that was Toure or Fabregas for me) and good in the World cup without being a stand out player in that side either.

2002/2003 & 2004/2005 would be pretty level.

criminal henry never won

I agree. Last season was nothing special from Henry. 2003 and 2004 were his big chances to win the world player of the year awards, and I think when he missed out in favour of Zidane it was obvious that he would struggle to win the award playing in England. 2004 was probably his best year, but it's difficult to argue against Ronaldinho being honoured then because he was superb.

Its hard though because in between 2003 and 2005 when he was playing his best football, there was some superb footballers at there best - Nedved, Shevchenko, even Zidane was still magic.

Nedved's performances in the Champions league 2002/2003 were just sublime, against teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona as well.

Zidane!

Rosicky wrote:criminal henry never won

He was never the worlds best player

Ok, I read the first topic and didn't want to be biased by what everyone else wrote. I admit I know less about European and World football than any of you. I don't get to watch that many games. But here are my top 3 for 2007:

1st - Didier Drogba
2nd - Cristiano Ronaldo
3rd - Francesco Totti

The thing I took into consideration is scoring, intangibles, talent of the player, and how much a player has to carry his team. To me, no defenders or goal keepers jumped out to me this year so this is my best guess. I apologize if there are teams and players from other countries that weren't considered. Just call me naive. And I promise I didn't read anyone else's answers to come up with mine. I wanted to see how my answers stack up with the "experts".

Good choice jdbfs.

1st and 2nd will depend on who wins the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League i think.

After reading everyone else now, I feel like I need to defend my choices.

Drogba and Ronaldo can easily be flipped. I actually had Ronaldo first and then changed it.

Drogba. Chelsea has had injuries all year. Drogba has been the glue that has held this team together. Drogba is the reason Chelsea is still in the CL. He is at the top of the EPL in scoring and has performed well in the CL. If Chelsea win the CL, I think Drogba has to be ahead.

Ronaldo. In my opnion, by far the best player in the world right now. Unbelievably talented and may scare the world of football more than any other player. However, until the last match against Roma, Ronaldo hadn't even scored in the CL. Awesome in the EPL but has left a little to be desired against the rest of Europe. For this reason, I have Drogba ahead. But if Man U wins the CL, Ronaldo may be ahead.

Totti. I saw that only one other person picked Totti. I think he has to be there. He has basically carried Roma to a great season. It has only been overshadowed by Inter. Totti has no help. Mancini is second for Roma behing Totti's 18 goals with 7. Totti has performed well in the CL at times also. I give this to Totti at 3rd because of how much he has had to carry this team. There are other good players for Roma. But Drogba, Ronaldo, and Kaka all have far more help than Totti does.

Funny I see this thread and then read this article on ESPN. His conclusion - Ronaldo, Drogba, and Kaka are the top 3.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=421354&root=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1&cc=5901

doninha wrote:
But at the moment, it would be:

1 Cristiano Ronaldo
2 Drogba
3 Essien / Carvalho (a hard working player)

Good choices

1st

2nd?

3rd?

Kaka, Drogba, Ronaldo with Kaka winning it.

If we win the final I guarentee they'll find some way to fit Gerrard into the picture. Should be Crouchy.

1) Kaka
2) Drogba
3) Ronaldinho

1 Ronaldo
2 Totti
3 Kaka

FIFA World Player of the Year winner will come from La Liga or Serie A .. so that rules out any Premier League players

I'm not sure if it has any respect left .. has been said to be a popularity contest.

Kaka may win it due to his European Cup performances , has a flawless final in which Milan wins .. will seal it.

Saying that Gerrard's performance in the 2nd half of the Istanbul Final and his performances for Liverpool during the 2004/05 campaign went unnoticed , also van Nistelrooy had seasons where he finished top goalscorer in the European Cup .. Henry who arguably was the most inform striker in Europe , winning a couple of Golden Boots in a 4 year period also snubbed and Beckham in 1998/99 season .. top form in the league and Europe .. did not win.

So be prepared for a no Premier League winner.

Rai Mihawk wrote:FIFA World Player of the Year winner will come from La Liga or Serie A .. so that rules out any Premier League players

I'm not sure if it has any respect left .. has been said to be a popularity contest.

Kaka may win it due to his European Cup performances , has a flawless final in which Milan wins .. will seal it.

Saying that Gerrard's performance in the 2nd half of the Istanbul Final and his performances for Liverpool during the 2004/05 campaign went unnoticed , also van Nistelrooy had seasons where he finished top goalscorer in the European Cup .. Henry who arguably was the most inform striker in Europe , winning a couple of Golden Boots in a 4 year period also snubbed and Beckham in 1998/99 season .. top form in the league and Europe .. did not win.

So be prepared for a no Premier League winner.

Indeed that's why I also think it'll be Kaka.

They'll give second place to Drogba to placate the EPL and Africans.

And the third place will go to NikeRonaldinho.



What you forgot to mention is that sposoring contracts also play a big part in these decisions...

Davids never to have won WPOTY is the biggest crime btw.

If Ronaldinhio gets in the top 3 it'll be a joke.

At the moment its kaka but if dinho are any other player(from La liga Or serie A) starts the season in great form, they could win it also because we all now how short the Memories of the Voters are.

Its just a case of sour grapes!!

What a rubbish post. Yeah, WPOTY is a popularity contest in many ways... the coaches of all national teams vote, so obviously its their opinion, which is as good or as bad as any vote! Its not about who performed the best, its about who they think is the best football player in the world - and is heavily influenced by performances in international competitions specially the world cup, and to a lessor extent the champions league. I don't think a vote on this MB would be better either to be honest... and it may not be worse. Defenders/goalkeepers rarely stand a chance.

But it is what it is, and the players who have won it have deserved to win it IMO. Coz its obviously not the "player of the season", its more of a "best player or the player of the world cup" award... I was glad that they finally gave it to a defender last year, and I hope it happens more frequently from now, tho that is unlikely.

About the world-coaches-against-english-players conspiracy, its the most ridiculous one I have heard... till about 5 years ago, the best players didn;t even play in the EPL, so why would you even expect an EPL player to win it??? Once every 4 years, the award goes to a world champion who shone for his team... how many of those were playing in EPL?? Romario?? Ronaldo? Zidane? Ronaldinho?? Cannavaro?? Yeah, if Ivory coast had won the world cup last year, then you would have a case for Drogba... but that didn't happen...

To be fair, Gerrard did finish second once, Henry twice, Beckham twice... which is as good as they deserved IMO, none of them were THE best players in the world for those years anyways... how can you choose beckham over zidane/ronaldo??Or Gerrard over Kaka/Ronaldinho?? They will have to win the world cup for that, just like Cannavaro did...

Rai Mihawk wrote:FIFA World Player of the Year winner will come from La Liga or Serie A .. so that rules out any Premier League players

I'm not sure if it has any respect left .. has been said to be a popularity contest.

Kaka may win it due to his European Cup performances , has a flawless final in which Milan wins .. will seal it.

Saying that Gerrard's performance in the 2nd half of the Istanbul Final and his performances for Liverpool during the 2004/05 campaign went unnoticed , also van Nistelrooy had seasons where he finished top goalscorer in the European Cup .. Henry who arguably was the most inform striker in Europe , winning a couple of Golden Boots in a 4 year period also snubbed and Beckham in 1998/99 season .. top form in the league and Europe .. did not win.

So be prepared for a no Premier League winner.

1 Kaka
2 RVP
3 Kuyt

Messiah is right that memories are short.

As for Beckham, when he came second it was after we won the treble and we had a lot of candidates. The fact that only our most popular and famous player was considered was a joke.

Seedorf will score 4 goals and set up another for kaka in the CL final, and everyone will say how fantaastic kaka is and give him world player of the year (I exagerate to make the point).

seedorf is not popular enough to win the awards, he doesn't even receive the recognition from his own fans.

How can kaka win the award if he is not the best player at milan "this year" and seedorf is. Kaka has been the best player in the CL but seedorf is right up there with him, and has been far better in the league.

Lampard finished 2nd the year Liverpool won the European Cup ?

This says it all .. no offence to Frank Lampard.

btw, Gerrard has never finished in the top 3.

He did Rai, the year Lampard came 2nd, Gerrard came 3rd.

Parks lives wrote:He did Rai, the year Lampard came 2nd, Gerrard came 3rd.

Eto'o

2005

1 Ronaldinho 956 FC Barcelona
2 Frank Lampard 306 Chelsea
3 Samuel Eto'o 190 FC Barcelona
--------------------------------------------------------
4 Thierry Henry 172 Arsenal
5 Adriano 170 Inter Milan
6 Andriy Shevchenko 153 AC Milan
7 Steven Gerrard 131 Liverpool

1. Kaka
2. Ronaldo
3. Drogba

No EPL player has ever won WPOTY and I can't see that changing now or ever to be honest.

Got that one wrong.

I'm sure there was an award where Lampard came second and Gerrard came third. Ballon' Dor?

I'm sure there was as well