I'm not sure we have had a full voting summary posted on the forum before (@Titanlux for example might be aware whether we had or hadn't for this year....), and I happened to find it using Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, published on the 19th of December (I don't find similar for 1956 or 1958 though, and generally reports in the press about the Ballon d'Or seem to show the final positions/points and talk about the major placings it seems): England: Charles, Di Stefano, Edwards, Streltsov, Blanchflower Hungary: Di Stefano, Wright, Streltsov, Grosics, Milutinovic Germany: Yashin, Streltsov, Kubala, Szymaniak, Grosics Italy: Bozsik, Di Stefano, Blanchflower, Kocsis, Haynes Austria: Di Stefano, Schiaffino, Wright, Haynes, Hanappi Portugal: Di Stefano, Netto, Edwards, Kopa, Gento Belgium: Di Stefano, Wright, Kopa, Matthews, Netto Sweden: Di Stefano, Gento, Taylor, Charles, Hamrin Spain: Di Stefano, Kubala, Edwards, Kopa, Gento Switzerland: Wright, Di Stefano, Milutinovic, Bozsik, Netto France: Di Stefano, Kubala, Charles, Kopa, Edwards Czechoslovakia: Di Stefano, Taylor, Kopa, Yashin, Novak Greece: Di Stefano, Edwards, Stretlsov, Taylor, Kopa Turkey: Di Stefano, Charles, Netto, Bozsik, Gento Netherlands: Di Stefano, Kubala, Wright, Hanappi, Matthews/Yashin Yugoslavia: Di Stefano, Grosics, Kopa, Edwards, Taylor European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1957 (rsssf.org)
Di Stefano was practically unanimous haha only for Germany it wasn't. Is there any historical context that explains this?
I can't think of one, and funnily he was nicknamed 'the German' as a young player (before he got the Blonde Arrow nickname seemingly)! Even if his fair hair more likely came from Ireland (Celtic background?), assuming it wasn't from the Italian side of the family: Alfredo di Stefano: Footballer hailed as one of the greatest in the history of the game | The Independent | The Independent Alfredo Di Stéfano - Wikipedia
This is a shame that England and Switzerland didnt put ADS first, he was like miles away from the rest
Thanks for the addition mate. I'd be fine with @comme or somebody amending the thread title if it seemed appropriate (to 1957 and 1958 Ballon d'Or voting, or 1957 (and other years) Ballon d'Or voting if more could follow possibly, for example). This XI is made from the Ballon d'Or voting I think, not a France Football selection by the editorial team or by Hanot for example? They mostly seem in 'correct' or appropriate positions I think too (Kopa was playing as right winger at Real Madrid of course, but he's in the best slot for him considering the World Cup surely, and especially so given the queue of right wingers in the voting results, and Liedholm at times played more as playmaking 'inside forward' for Milan and Sweden but he's in a valid position or the best one even probably anyway). The one who seems to have been shifted into a non-optimal/normal position is Hamrin I guess, but I haven't done a thorough check (it might not even be possible, although you might have ideas or info yourself) about to what extent he may or may not have played games as left winger in the calendar year 1958 (for Sweden Skoglund was playing as left winger in the World Cup though of course). There aren't a lot of available highlights to trawl through I don't think, but in these games he's playing as right winger it seems anyway (firstly with the assist if I hear the commentary correctly, for Padova vs Fiorentina, then wearing 7 and scoring goals in a normal area for right side wing forward for Fiorentina vs Inter in 1958/59 after his transfer): If Hamrin wouldn't be a truly valid option as 'realistic' left winger based on game time (or even best performances etc) then the next option would seem to be Gento in theory. But Hamrin has 15 points from 6 votes including 2 second place votes, and Gento has 4 points from just one 3rd and one 5th place vote, so if they chose the higher voted winger and shoe-horned him onto the left it seems understandable at least I guess (and it means all the top 5 players in the standings, or top 6 actually with Billy Wright too, are in the presented XI). European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1958
If my French reading is up to scratch (I'm kind of assuming rather than being able to translate the phrasing in question exactly, and I haven't put it into Google translate) Bernard Joy (the voter from England) says it's not possible to find a better dribbler in the world than Kopa I think does he? @wm442433 or @babaorum would know for sure upon reading the write-up anyway. Looking at his comments in particular further, for the other players he chose, he seems to be saying Hamrin is a 'modern player', Haynes the best in his role in English football since Alex James, Szymaniak a two-way player (good defensively and going forwards) and Charles has had a great first season in Italy (in that case perhaps he's considering 1957/58 overall I guess)....
I did do a translate on a section of the Spanish entry (re: Kopa) though: "the dazzling brilliance of Pele, the sense of organization of Didi or the sparkling speed of a Garrincha do not surprise me more than the extrodinary game of Kopa" It's suggested also though that even without the World Cup Kopa can merit number 1 I see in that write-up, as "every week he gives football lesson...though mainly playing from the right wing" to paraphrase what is said in the next part. Whether it's implied he was better than Di Stefano for sure is hard to say as there isn't a mention of Di Stefano and as we seemingly know there was some kind of instruction not to vote for Di Stefano since he had won the previous edition. I wouldn't say it's definitely not implied that Kopa was the best Real Madrid player but I'm not sure really....
The Portuguese voter says this in effect it seems, about Kopa too: "This season he reached the exceptional peak by fully displaying qualities that he had possessed for a long time but which were diminished at Real, by the presence of Di Stefano. If the French team is class 3, it’s thanks to him" And I noticed that the Yugoslav voter implies that Boskov has hardly any rival in Europe when it comes to clairvoyance (vision basically as we might call it?, or inventiveness?) and technique. Boskov did have very good grades from France Football for the World Cup I remember too, to be fair (albeit he didn't have any Ballon d'Or vote from outside Yugoslavia).
I started to think re: Boskov and clairvoyance that things like anticipation and awareness when the opposition had the ball could be meant too (he played as a wing half so deep-lying midfielder albeit he was a playmaker type I believe, and initially I had linked clairvoyance and technique and thought about in-possession attributes). The term was used later about Lubanski (a forward) and wm442433 said this though anyway https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/b...e-season-1968-69.2103229/page-6#post-37745704 I see for his 1958 voting write-up that the Bulgarian voter said that Valentin Ivanov in 3rd place in his vote could be surprising but upon analysis of the USSR domestic season (I guess Bulgarians would be more familiar with that than most Europeans probably) then people would agree with him that Ivanov isn't 'out of place' in that position in effect I think, as well now.
Yes it is exactly it and more specifically, he says about Charles that he is the only British player who did not need a period of adaptation to impose himself on the continent, and [that] at the expense of the best Italian defenses.