My list for 03/04 is this: 1 - Thierry Henry, 2 - Andriy Shevchenko, 3 - Alessandro Nesta, 4 - Deco, 5 - Robert Pires And for 2004 calendar year: 1 - Thierry Henry, 2 - Andriy Shevchenko, 3 - Pavel Nedved, 4 - Deco, 5 - Ricardo Carvalho Non-European Didier Drogba picked up the Onze d'Or, with Henry the only European in a podium position, with Ronaldinho there too. Ronaldinho beat Henry to the FIFA award as well as the World Soccer Player of the Year, while Shevchenko collected the Ballon d'Or. The 03/04 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year was Deco.
For 2004/05 I have: 1 - Thierry Henry, 2 - Frank Lampard, 3 - Mark van Bommel, 4 - Deco, 5 - Arjen Robben And 2005 calendar year: 1 - Thierry Henry, 2- Frank Lampard, 3 - Steven Gerrard, 4 - Andriy Shevchenko, 5 - Petr Cech Ronaldinho came top in all the votes I've been mentioning for 2005, although Gerrard was named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year for 04/05 but yet again (although it wasn't the case with Deco in 03/04) the Midfielder of the Year award went to a different player, this time non-European Kaka (with Ronaldinho classed as a forward and named Forward of the Year; Cech was prominent in awards including taking the Goalkeeper of the Year by the way).
Focusing on European season accolades, perhaps it's interesting to compare the list of winners of the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award I've been referring to, with ESM Team of the Month recognition.... 1997/98 - Ronaldo - In ESM Team of the Year with 4 monthly inclusions (no forward had as many) from 23 total votes (ditto). Also named UEFA Forward of the Year. 1998/99 - David Beckham - In ESM Team of the Year with 5 monthly inclusions (no midfielder or forward had more) from 33 total votes (no player had as many). Also named UEFA Midfielder of the Year. 1999/00 - Fernando Redondo - Not in ESM Team of the Year, having 1 monthly inclusion (in the final month) from 6 total votes. 2000/01 - Stefan Effenberg - Not in ESM Team of the Year, having 1 monthly inclusion (in the final month) from 11 total votes. 2001/02 - Zinedine Zidane - In ESM Team of the Year with 5 monthly inclusions (no player had more) from 27 total votes (no player had as many). 2002/03 - Gianluigi Buffon - In ESM Team of the Year with 2 monthly inclusions (no goalkeeper had as many) from 9 total votes. Also named UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year. 2003/04 - Deco - Not in ESM Team of the Year, having 2 monthly inclusions (including in the final month) from 17 total votes. Also named UEFA Midfielder of the Year. 2004/05 - Steven Gerrard - Not in ESM Team of the Year, having 1 monthly inclusion (in the final month) from 14 total votes. I'll stop there for now but some patterns seem to emerge: - Big correlation between winning UEFA club honours (especially Champions League) and a player being named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (perhaps more than for previous IOC and Unicef seasonal awards). - Big correlation between players not named a lot during the season in ESM Teams, scooping the UEFA Club Player of the Year award after being in the final ESM Team of the Month. - Correlation between players named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year but not Midfielder of the Year (it is always midfielders), and the player not appearing in the ESM Team of the Year while sometimes the Midfielder of the Year does (Ballack yes, Kaka no, Mendieta once out of two times). As an extra for the final 3 Unicef Players of the Season: 1994/95 - Jari Litmanen - In ESM Team of the Year which was voted on at the end of the season as opposed to every month - 4 inclusions (joint 5th most; joint 3rd most among midfielders/attackers) from votes of 9 publications 1995/96 - Alessandro Del Piero - In ESM Team of the Year with 2 monthly inclusions (from 2 of the first 3 voted on months) from 20 total votes 1996/97 - Ronaldo - In ESM Team of the Year with 7 monthly inclusions (no player had as many) from 40 total votes (no player had as many).
Tricky one next, and I have doubts about not changing my previous 2006 year list but though the claims of those coming out on top rest on half a year and majorly the World Cup other players don't really leap out at me with a case to jump over those who get there for the peaks and significant games..... 05/06 is definitely tricky too and I'm settling on this for European players: 1 - Miroslav Klose, 2 - Fabio Cannavaro, 3 - Thierry Henry, 4 - Steven Gerrard, 5 - Andrea Pirlo For 2006 year I stick with this: 1 - Fabio Cannavaro, 2 - Andrea Pirlo, 3 - Zinedine Zidane, 4 - Thierry Henry, 5 - Cristiano Ronaldo Ronaldinho was UEFA Club Footballer of 05/06, although another non-European Samuel Eto'o, also at Barcelona, took the Forward of the Year title. Cannavaro was FIFA World Player of the Year to add to the Ballon d'Or and also the World Soccer Player of the Year title. Henry won the Onze d'Or.
For 2006/07 I'll go with: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Francesco Totti, 3 - Andres Iniesta, 4 - Adrian Mutu, 5 - Ryan Giggs And 2007 calendar year: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Clarence Seedorf, 3 - Steven Gerrard, 4 - Dimitar Berbatov, 5 - Wesley Sneijder The Brazilian Kaka won all of 2007's individual awards I've been mentioning, as well as the 06/07 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award (pre-empting later analysis, he did win the Forward of the Year award too having moved into more of an attacking role at Milan, but he wasn't part of 06/07's ESM Team of the Year overall).
For 07/08 I've gone with: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Fernando Torres, 3 - Steven Gerrard, 4 - Cesc Fabregas, 5 - Wesley Sneijder And for 2008 calendar year the top 3 is the same: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Fernando Torres, - 3 - Steven Gerrard, 4 - Andrey Arshavin, 5 - David Villa Ronaldo was voted top for all the awards I've been mentioning for 2008 and also the 07/08 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.
For 08/09 I'm deciding on: 1 - Andres Iniesta, 2 - Xavi, 3 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 4 - David Villa, 5 - Gerard Pique And for 2009 calendar year: 1 - Andres Iniesta, 2 - Xavi, 3 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 4 - Cesc Fabregas, 5 - Frank Lampard Lionel Messi, the Argentine, was awarded all the individual accolades I've been picking out for these periods, including 2008/09 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. Among Europeans Cristiano Ronaldo edged Xaviesta on points (not combined between the two of them, but individually of course) for FIFA Player of 2009 and also the Ballon d'Or, and was second in Onze's vote too but Iniesta and Xavi respectively did get ahead of him with a higher percentage of votes for World Soccer's Player of the Year.
So showing now the comparison between the UEFA Club Footballers of the Year for 97/98 to 08/09, with the Ballon d'Or winners between 1998 and 2009 (to repeat some info: where the FIFA award winners were different in this period these players won - Zidane in 2000 (instead of Figo) and 2003* (instead of Nedved), Figo in 2001 (instead of Owen), Ronaldinho in 2004* (instead of Shevchenko)). *To go back and clarify for 1987-1997, if Ballon d'Or could be used throughout then for sure Matthaus and Ronaldo's total included awards for calendar years would be 1 each in that period (with Papin and Sammer also on one each - they didn't win Unicef's Player of the Season award themselves) which would mean they had the same number of Unicef Player of the Season awards as that, not less.....but Ronaldo was especially close to Sammer for 1996 Ballon d'Or anyway, whereas Matthaus was in a 3-way tie for 2nd around 100 points behind Papin. Winners of the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award David Beckham - 1 Gianluigi Buffon - 1 Deco - 1 Stefan Effenberg - 1 Steven Gerrard - 1 Kaka - 1 Lionel Messi - 1 Fernando Redondo - 1 Ronaldinho - 1 Ronaldo - 1 Cristiano Ronaldo - 1 Zinedine Zidane - 1 Ballon d'Or winners Fabio Cannavaro - 1 Luis Figo - 1 Kaka - 1 Lionel Messi - 1 Pavel Nedved - 1 Michael Owen - 1 Rivaldo - 1 Ronaldinho - 1* Ronaldo - 1 Cristiano Ronaldo - 1 Andriy Shevchenko - 1 Zinedine Zidane - 1*
As a quick aside to be more complete, comparing IOC Players of the Season from 70/71 to 76/77 with Ballon d'Or winners between 1971 and 1977: - Cruyff has one less seasonal award compared to annual Ballon d'Or titles, but he was twice runner-up. - Beckenbauer also has one less seasonal award, but was also a runner-up. - Neeskens and Rensenbrink have a seasonal award without an annual one. - The likes of Best, Netzer, Deyna, Keegan show up better annually with the Ballon d'Or. - The likes of Maier and Bettega show up in a top 3 for IOC's seasonal award. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy.html https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/hi...yer-short-lists.2027972/page-43#post-36234306
My own selections/estimations of top 5s between 04 and 09 for European players a la original Ballon d'Or idea tallied now..... Annual calendar year votes 1) Cristiano Ronaldo - 14 (Manchester United/Portugal) 2) Theirry Henry - 12 (Arsenal/France) 3) Steven Gerrard - 9 (Liverpool/England) 4) Andriy Shevchenko - 6 (AC Milan/Ukraine) 5= Fabio Cannavaro - 5 (Juventus/Real Madrid/Italy) 5= Andres Iniesta - 5 (Barcelona/Spain) 5= Frank Lampard - 5 (Chelsea/England) 8= Andrea Pirlo - 4 (AC Milan/Italy) 8= Clarence Seedorf - 4 (AC Milan/Netherlands) 8= Fernando Torres - 4 (Liverpool/Spain) 8= Xavi - 4 (Barcelona/Spain) 12= Pavel Nedved - 3 (Juventus/Czech Republic) 12= Zinedine Zidane - 3 (Real Madrid/France) 14= Andrey Arshavin - 2 (Zenit St Petersburg/Russia) 14= Dimitar Berbatov - 2 (Tottenham Hotspur/Bulgaria) 14= Deco - 2 (Porto/Barcelona/Portugal) 14= Cesc Fabregas - 2 (Arsenal/Spain) 18= Ricardo Carvalho - 1 (Porto/Chelsea/Portugal) 18= Petr Cech - 1 (Chelsea/Czech Republic) 18= Wesley Sneijder - 1 (Ajax/Real Madrid/Netherlands) 18= David Villa - 1 (Valencia/Spain) European season votes (including summer tournaments) 1) Thierry Henry - 13 (Arsenal/France) 2) Cristiano Ronaldo - 10 (Manchester United/Portugal) 3) Andres Iniesta - 8 (Barcelona/Spain) 4= Steven Gerrard - 5 (Liverpool/England) 4= Miroslav Klose - 5 (Werder Bremen/Germany) 6= Fabio Cannavaro - 4 (Juventus/Italy) 6= Deco - 4 (Porto/Portugal) 6= Frank Lampard - 4 (Chelsea/England) 6= Andriy Shevchenko - 4 (AC Milan/Ukraine) 6= Fernando Torres - 4 (Liverpool/Spain) 6= Francesco Totti - 4 (Roma/Italy) 6= Xavi - 4 (Barcelona/Spain) 13= Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 3 (Inter Milan/Sweden) 13= Alessandro Nesta - 3 (AC Milan/Italy) 13= Mark van Bommel - 3 (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands) 16= Cesc Fabregas - 2 (Arsenal/Spain) 16= Adrian Mutu - 2 (Fiorentina/Romania) 16= David Villa - 2 (Valencia/Spain) 19= Ryan Giggs - 1 (Manchester United/Wales) 19= Gerard Pique - 1 (Barcelona/Spain) 19= Robert Pires - 1 (Arsenal/France) 19= Andrea Pirlo - 1 (AC Milan/Italy) 19= Arjen Robben - 1 (Chelsea/Netherlands) 19= Wesley Sneijder - 1 (Real Madrid/Netherlands)
For the whole period 97/98 to 2009 I tally up this.... My annual points (1998-2009) Zinedine Zidane - 27 Thierry Henry - 21 Luis Figo - 16 Cristiano Ronaldo - 14 Andriy Shevchenko - 13 Steven Gerrard - 9 Pavel Nedved - 6 (higher position in list but less points) Fabio Cannavaro - 5 Andres Iniesta - 5 Frank Lampard - 5 Francesco Totti - 5 Dennis Bergkamp - 4 Andrea Pirlo - 4 Raul - 4 Clarence Seedorf - 4 Fernando Torres - 4 Xavi - 4 David Beckham - 3 Michael Owen - 3 Patrick Vieira - 3 Andrey Arshavin - 2 Michael Ballack - 2 Dimitar Berbatov - 2 Deco - 2 Cesc Fabregas - 2 Henrik Larsson - 2 Robert Pires - 2 Ricardo Carvalho - 1 Petr Cech - 1 Freddie Ljungberg - 1 Alessandro Nesta - 1 Paul Scholes - 1 Wesley Sneijder - 1 David Villa - 1 My seasonal points (1997/98 to 2008/09) Zinedine Zidane - 22 Luis Figo - 16 Thierry Henry - 16 Andriy Shevchenko - 11 (higher position in list but less points) Cristiano Ronaldo - 10 Andres Iniesta - 8 Francesco Totti - 8 Pavel Nedved - 7 David Beckham - 5 Dennis Bergkamp - 5 Steven Gerrard - 5 Miroslav Klose - 5 Robert Pires - 5 Raul - 5 Fabio Cannavaro - 4 Deco - 4 Frank Lampard - 4 Fernando Torres - 4 Ruud van Nistelrooy - 4 Xavi - 4 Alessandro Del Piero - 3 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 3 Alessandro Nesta - 3 Mark van Bommel - 3 Cesc Fabregas - 2 Adrian Mutu - 2 Patrick Vieira - 2 David Villa - 2 Edgar Davids - 1 Ryan Giggs - 1 Roy Keane - 1 Gerard Pique - 1 Andrea Pirlo - 1 Arjen Robben - 1 Rui Costa - 1 Wesley Sneijder - 1
I found this page today too, with Guerin Sportivo's ratings for under 24 year olds in European Cups (including CWC and UEFA Cup of course), which is relevant/informative a bit for 89/90 regarding Baggio (top of the list) and also Scifo (a bit lower down): http://football-ratings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/memory-lane-premio-bravo-198990.html 340 points: R. Baggio (Fiorentina) 225: Casiraghi (Juventus) 194: Maldini (Milan) 179: Nappi (Fiorentina) 148: Savićević (Crvena Zvezda) 143: Lombardo (Sampdoria) 134: Pagliuca (Sampdoria) 125: Buso (Fiorentina) 114: Răducioiu (Dinamo Bucharest) 100: Kögl (Bayern Munich) 94: Hässler (Köln) 84: Weah (Monaco) 78: Scifo (Auxerre) 73: Thern (Benfica) 72: Simone (Milan) 71: Steinmann (Karl-Marx-Stadt) 67: Stroppa (Milan) 65: Stoichkov (CSKA Sofia) 57: Bode (Werder Bremen) 48: J. Nilsson (Malmö FF) 36: Prosinečki (Crvena Zvezda) 29: Sturm (Köln) 28: Thon (Bayern Munich) 26: Reuter (Bayern Munich) 25: Nilis (Anderlecht) 24: Geilenkirchen (Köln), Zola (Napoli) 21: Stiel (Wettingen) 20: Greiner (Köln), Strunz (Bayern Munich)
Yes interesting that it has four Italians at the top and also that almost all of those inclusions were actually 23-24 years old as far as I can see (a couple 22 years olds too).
Continuing....and including Milito for 2010 as he was the final UEFA Club Footballer of the Year before things changed and the Best Player in Europe award was introduced....(the total votes generally go up over time with more magazines involved I should add) 2005/06 - Ronaldinho - In ESM Team of the Year with 7 monthly inclusions (no player had as many) from 64 total votes (no player had as many). 2006/07 - Kaka - Not in ESM Team of the Year, having 3 monthly inclusions (included Ibrahimovic, Kanoute, Juninho and Stankovic had the same) from 24 total votes (curiously those players all had less - not sure if some of Kaka's were cast as midfielder, and likewise sometimes he entered a monthly XI as such, or something, or they got in the final XI ahead of him for other reasons). Also UEFA Forward of the Year. 2007/08 - Cristiano Ronaldo - In ESM Team of the Year with 7 monthly inclusions (no player had as many) from 52 total votes (no player had as many). Also UEFA Forward of the Year. 2008/09 - Lionel Messi - In ESM Team of the Year with 6 monthly inclusions (no player had as many) from 36 total votes (no player had as many). Also UEFA Forward of the Year. 2009/10 - Diego Milito - Not in ESM Team of the Year, having 1 monthly inclusion from 15 total votes. Also UEFA Forward of the Year. So interesting maybe that Ronaldinho got in the ESM Team the most emphatically but didn't add the Forward of the Year award from UEFA, while Milito was most conclusively out of the ESM XI but did pick up that Forward of the Year award (as did Kaka who also didn't get slotted into the final ESM Team of 06/07). I guess again final impressions in the closing stages counted heavily towards UEFA votes, but of course Ronaldinho still took the main award and the Forward of the Year Eto'o was significant competition (with the possibility that Ronaldinho gets classed as midfielder by some I guess too) even with around half the ESM votes Ronaldinho had over the whole season.
I'm not sure how long I'll take now to get to the end (thus far), but I'll start now with my European top 5s for that season 09/10 and 2010 calendar year..... 2009/10: 1 - Wesley Sneijder, 2 - Xavi, 3 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 4 - Andres Iniesta, 5 - Cesc Fabregas 2010: 1 - Xavi, 2 - Wesley Sneijder, 3 - Andres Iniesta, 4 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 5 - Arjen Robben The newly-merged FIFA Ballon d'Or went to Messi, ahead of Iniesta/Xavi and 4th placed Sneijder who as referred to was reported to have won the journalist vote. Milito, winning that 09/10 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award, didn't actually make the final 23 player shortlist for the Ballon d'Or, with instead the second non-European in the top 5 being Diego Forlan. The Onze d'Or had a year with nobody winning it, as it was changed to a seasonal award from 2010/11. Milito rather than Cristiano Ronaldo did appear again in 6th place for World Soccer's Player of the Year, with the top 5 mirroring the Ballon d'Or selection but with Xavi edging Messi to take the accolade, confirming it was somewhat a year of split opinions although not so much on the top group of candidates.
For 2010/11 I'll go with: 1 - Xavi, 2 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 3 - Andres Iniesta, 4 - Mesut Ozil, 5 - Gerard Pique And for 2011: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Xavi, 3 - Andres Iniesta, 4 - Mesut Ozil, 5 - Xabi Alonso The 2010/11 UEFA Player of the Year vote was won by the Argentine Messi, who also picked up 2011's FIFA Ballon d'Or plus the 2010/11 Onze d'Or and conclusively with 60% of the vote World Soccer's Player of 2011 award.
For 2011/12 I'm settling on these selections: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Andrea Pirlo, 3 - Andres Iniesta, 4 - Xavi, 5 - Eden Hazard And for 2012: 1 - Andrea Pirlo, 2 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 3 - Andres Iniesta, 4 - Franck Ribery, 5 - Juan Mata Messi won the Ballon d'Or and added World Soccer's Player of the Year award for 2012. Another South American in the top 5 for both was Radamel Falcao, and for 2011/12 he made the Onze podium, with Messi winning that too. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were edged out by Iniesta for the 2011/12 UEFA Best Player in Europe title though.
I've got my 2012/13 selection done as follows: 1 - Franck Ribery, 2 - Andrea Pirlo, 3 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 4 - Gareth Bale, 5 - Robert Lewandowski And 2013 calendar year: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Franck Ribery, 3 - Arjen Robben, 4 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 5 - Marco Reus The 2012/13 Best Player in Europe award from UEFA went to Ribery who finished ahead of the eligible Messi obviously. Both finished behind Ronaldo for the Ballon d'Or of 2013 though, and it was the same outcome for World Soccer's Player of the Year.
Half-way tallying up for these last 8 years/seasons to date: Annual calendar year votes 1) Cristiano Ronaldo - 16 (Real Madrid/Portugal) 2= Andres Iniesta - 9 (Barcelona/Spain) 2= Xavi - 9 (Barcelona/Spain) 4) Franck Ribery - 6 (Bayern Munich/France) 5) Andrea Pirlo - 5 (Juventus/Italy) 6= Arjen Robben - 4 (Bayern Munich/Netherlands) 6= Wesley Sneijder - 4 (Inter Milan/Netherlands) 8= Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 2 (Paris St Germain/Sweden) 8= Mesut Ozil - 2 (Real Madrid/Germany) 10= Xabi Alonso - 1 (Real Madrid/Spain) 10= Juan Mata - 1 (Chelsea/Spain) 10= Marco Reus - 1 (Borussia Dortmund/Germany) European Season votes (including summer tournaments) 1) Cristiano Ronaldo - 15 (Real Madrid/Portugal) 2) Xavi - 11 (Barcelona/Spain) 3= Andres Iniesta - 8 (Barcelona/Spain) 3= Andrea Pirlo - 8 (Juventus/Italy) 5= Franck Ribery - 5 (Bayern Munich/France) 5= Wesley Sneijder - 5 (Inter Milan/Netherlands) 7= Gareth Bale - 2 (Tottenham Hotspur/Wales) 7= Mesut Ozil - 2 (Real Madrid/Germany) 9= Cesc Fabregas - 1 (Arsenal/Spain) 9= Eden Hazard - 1 (Lille/Belgium) 9= Robert Lewandowski - 1 (Borussia Dortmund/Poland) 9= Gerard Pique - 1 (Barcelona/Spain)
For 2013/14 I'm going with this: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Arjen Robben, 3 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 4 - Franck Ribery, 5 - Marco Reus And for 2014 calendar year: 1 - Arjen Robben, 2 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 3 - Eden Hazard, 4 - Toni Kroos, 5 - Manuel Neuer For the 2013/14 UEFA Best Player in Europe award Messi was the closest non-European, heading a batch outside the top 4 with James Rodriguez just behind him. Cristiano Ronaldo took that award. Ronaldo added the FIFA Ballon d'Or and the World Soccer Player of the Year award for 2014, with Messi getting closer to the top.
Going with some uncertain and varied choices next.... For 2014/15: 1 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 - Eden Hazard, 3 - Arjen Robben, 4 - Kevin De Bruyne, 5 - David De Gea For 2015: 1 - Kevin De Bruyne, 2 - Mesut Ozil, 3 - Robert Lewandowski, 4 - Paul Pogba, 5 - Andres Iniesta Messi took all of the following: FIFA Ballon d'Or, World Soccer Player of the Year (both 2015) and 2014/15 UEFA Best Player in Europe award.
Making my penultimate choices.... 2015/16: 1 - Antoine Griezmann, 2 - Paul Pogba, 3 - Mesut Ozil, 4 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 5 - Dimitri Payet 2016: 1 - Antoine Griezmann, 2 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 3 - Eden Hazard, 4 - N'Golo Kante, 5 - Mesut Ozil Cristiano Ronaldo, with the various non-European options eligible and a few finishing high up, was given the FIFA Ballon d'Or and World Soccer's Player of the Year award for 2016 and he'd also taken emphatically the UEFA Best Player in Europe award, despite not making the ESM Team of the Season (I'll return to that analysis for the remaining years after I've got to the end).
Concluding with this for 2016/17: 1 - Eden Hazard, 2 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 3 - Antoine Griezmann, 4 - Robert Lewandowski, 5 - Christian Eriksen And 2017: 1 - Eden Hazard, 2 - Kevin De Bruyne, 3 - Cristiano Ronaldo, 4 - Christian Eriksen, 5 - Harry Kane Ronaldo did receive the newly titled UEFA Mens's Player of the Year award, as well as the new Onze d'Or for 2016/17. He also won World Soccer's Player of the Year award for 2017, with non-Europeans Messi and Neymar quite close in the voting, and the FIFA Ballon d'Or with those two reasonably close again.
And summarising the second half of the period.... Annual calendar year votes 1= Eden Hazard - 11 (Chelsea/Belgium) 1= Cristiano Ronaldo - 11 (Real Madrid/Portugal) 3) Kevin De Bruyne - 9 (Wolfsburg/Manchester City/Belgium) 4= Antoine Griezmann - 5 (Atletico Madrid/France) 4= Arjen Robben - 5 (Bayern Munich/Netherlands) 4= Mesut Ozil - 5 (Arsenal/Germany) 7) Robert Lewandowski - 3 (Bayern Munich/Poland) 8= Christian Eriksen - 2 (Tottenham Hotspur/Denmark) 8= N'Golo Kante - 2 (Leicester City/Chelsea/France) 8= Toni Kroos - 2 (Bayern Munich/Real Madrid/Germany) 8= Paul Pogba - 2 (Juventus/France) 11= Andres Iniesta - 1 (Barcelona/Spain) 11= Harry Kane - 1 (Tottenham Hotspur/England) 11= Manuel Neuer - 1 (Bayern Munich/Germany) European Season votes (including summer tournaments) 1) Cristiano Ronaldo - 16 (Real Madrid/Portugal) 2) Eden Hazard - 9 (Chelsea/Belgium) 3) Antoine Griezmann - 8 (Atletico Madrid/France) 4) Arjen Robben - 7 (Bayern Munich/Netherlands) 5) Paul Pogba - 4 (Juventus/France) 6= Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 3 (Paris St Germain/Sweden) 6= Mesut Ozil - 3 (Arsenal/Germany) 8= Kevin De Bruyne - 2 (Wolfsburg/Belgium) 8= Robert Lewandowski - 2 (Bayern Munich/Poland) 8= Franck Ribery - 2 (Bayern Munich/France) 11= David De Gea - 1 (Manchester United/Spain) 11= Christian Eriksen - 1 (Tottenham Hotspur/Denmark) 11= Dimitri Payet - 1 (West Ham United/France) 11= Marco Reus - 1 (Borussia Dortmund/Germany)
Comparison between UEFA Best Player in Europe (/Mens Player of the Year) awards and Ballon d'Or (*FIFA Ballon d'Or until the last two years when it reverted to France Football which obviously I knew but still I erroneously typed FIFA in the two posts - Ronaldo won the FIFA Men's Player of the Year vote too I should add in both years) for the most recent 8 years/seasons..... Winners of UEFA seasonal award (including final Club Footballer of the Year) Cristiano Ronaldo - 3 Lionel Messi - 2 Andres Iniesta - 1 Diego Milito - 1 Franck Ribery - 1 Ballon d'Or winners Lionel Messi - 4 Cristiano Ronaldo - 4