Ronaldo won all the 1997 individual awards, and also the Unicef Player of the Season in European football for 96/97. The closest European in the Ballon d'Or results was Predrag Mijatovic, while from others sources Bergkamp and/or Zidane. This is my 96/97 list, considering European players over European season: 1 - Gianfranco Zola, 2 - Davor Suker, 3 - Zinedine Zidane, 4 - Dennis Bergkamp, 5 - Luis Figo And for 1997 calendar year: 1 - Dennis Bergkamp, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Gianfranco Zola, 4 - Luis Figo, 5 - Raul
Since there were some non-European winners of the Unicef Player of the Season award, I'll compare them with winners of the FIFA World Player of the Year award rather than Ballon d'Or, but for pre 1991 I'll use the Ballon d'Or and that's backed up somewhat by an IFFHS vote which apparently gave the same results for 88 to 90. For 1987 calendar year Ruud Gullit as the top choice seems widely accepted too. Winners of Unicef's Player of the Season (in Europe, but non-Europeans seem to be eligible throughout) Roberto Baggio - 1 Alessandro Del Piero - 1 Paulo Futre - 1 Ruud Gullit - 1 Jari Litmanen - 1 Paolo Maldini - 1 Diego Maradona - 1 Lothar Matthaus - 1 Darko Pancev - 1 Ronaldo - 1 Hristo Stoichkov - 1 World Player of the Year winners in the same period (with Ballon d'Or used pre 1991) Marco van Basten - 3 Lothar Matthaus - 2 Ronaldo - 2 Roberto Baggio - 1 Ruud Gullit - 1 Romario - 1 George Weah - 1 So there seems to be a clearer difference between votes for seasons and votes for calendar years in this period (1987-1997) than the last one (1978-1986). Of course it's not certain whether major summer International tournaments (or any national team games over the season even) are taken into account with the Unicef voting, just as with the IOC award previously. And it's also a bit uncertain from voter to voter how much the previous season is focused on rather than or in addition to the calendar year for World Player of the Year (and Ballon d'Or) votes, but voting always takes place before the end of the year so some of it is not considered at least, but perhaps that period is taken into account for the following year often. I'll show my own 'voting' again in summary form for the period, and to be clear I am considering summer tournaments and can obviously consider the full calendar year retrospectively, so maybe I've got a clearer distinction between season and year even....but as shown above the sources used do provide quite different results at times based on seasons as opposed to calendar years. It's a bit like comparing ESM teams to Teams of the Year I suppose too, and it's not surprising results vary and some players do better with inclusions in one format compared to another even if at times a player shows up in both and even gets named player of season and year (it can also be perhaps even the year beginning during a season rather than, or as well as, the one ending during it).
Showing my own ideas for allocated points for those 6 years between 1992 and 1997 now.... Annual calendar year votes 1= Roberto Baggio - 10 (Juventus/Italy) 1= Paolo Maldini - 10 (AC Milan/Italy) 3) Dennis Bergkamp - 9 (Ajax/Arsenal/Netherlands) 4) Dejan Savicevic - 8 (AC Milan/Yugoslavia) 5) Michael Laudrup - 7 (Barcelona/Denmark) 6) Jurgen Klinsmann - 6 (Monaco/Tottenham Hotspur/Bayern Munich/Germany) 7= Davor Suker - 5 (Sevilla/Real Madrid/Croatia) 7= Marco van Basten - 5 (AC Milan/Netherlands) 9= Luis Figo - 4 (Sporting Lisbon/Barcelona/Portugal) 9= Matthias Sammer - 4 (Borussia Dortmund/Germany) 9= Zinedine Zidane - 4 (Juventus/France) 9= Eric Cantona - 3 (Manchester United/France) 9= Jari Litmanen - 3 (Ajax/Finland) 9= Gianfranco Zola - 3 (Chelsea/Italy) 15= Ryan Giggs - 2 (Manchester United/Wales) 15= Alan Shearer - 2 (Blackburn Rovers/Newcastle United/England) 15= Hristo Stoichkov - 2 (Barcelona/Bulgaria) 18= Gheorghe Hagi - 1 (Brescia/Barcelona/Romania) 18= Raul - 1 (Real Madrid/Spain) 18= Peter Schmeichel - 1 (Manchester United/Denmark) European season votes (including summer tournaments) 1) Michael Laudrup - 11 (Barcelona/Denmark) 2) Roberto Baggio - 10 (Juventus/Italy) 3) Jari Litmanen - 8 (Ajax/Finland) 4) Eric Cantona - 7 (Manchester United/France) 5) Paolo Maldini - 6 (AC Milan/Italy) 6= Dejan Savicevic - 5 (AC Milan/Yugoslavia) 6= Gianfranco Zola - 5 (Parma/Chelsea/Italy) 8= Dennis Bergkamp - 4 (Ajax/Arsenal/Netherlands) 8= Laurent Blanc - 4 (Auxerre/France) 8= Jurgen Klinsmann - 4 (Tottenham Hotspur/Germany) 8= Matthias Sammer - 4 (Borussia Dortmund/Germany) 8= Davor Suker - 4 (Real Madrid/Croatia) 8= Marco van Basten - 4 (AC Milan/Netherlands) 14= Hristo Stoichkov - 3 (Barcelona/Bulgaria) 14= Zinedine Zidane - 3 (Juventus/France) 16= Frank Rijkaard - 2 (AC Milan/Netherlands) 16= Gianluca Vialli - 2 (Juventus) 18= Franco Baresi - 1 (AC Milan/Italy) 18= Alessandro Del Piero - 1 (Juventus/Italy) 18= Luis Figo - 1 (Barcelona/Portugal) 18= Ryan Giggs - 1 (Manchester United/Wales)
My annual points (1987-1997) Marco van Basten - 15 Dejan Savicevic - 12 Franco Baresi - 11 Roberto Baggio - 10 Michael Laudrup - 10 Paolo Maldini - 10 Dennis Bergkamp - 9 Ruud Gullit - 9 Lothar Matthaus - 8 Jurgen Klinsmann - 6 Gary Lineker - 6 Jean-Pierre Papin - 6 Davor Suker - 5 Luis Figo - 4 Matthias Sammer - 4 Zinedine Zidane - 4 Emilio Butragueno - 3 Eric Cantona - 3 Paul Gascoigne - 3 Jari Litmanen - 3 Dragan Stojkovic - 3 Gianfranco Zola - 3 Ryan Giggs - 2 Paulo Futre - 2 Gheorghe Hagi - 2 Frank Rijkaard - 2 Enzo Scifo - 2 Alan Shearer - 2 Hristo Stoichkov - 2 Ronald Koeman - 1 Raul - 1 Peter Schmeichel - 1 Chris Waddle - 1 My seasonal points (1986/87 to 1996/97) Marco van Basten - 16 Michael Laudrup - 11 Roberto Baggio - 10 Dejan Savicevic - 10 Paolo Maldini - 10 Franco Baresi - 9 Lothar Matthaus - 9 Ruud Gullit - 8 Jari Litmanen - 8 Eric Cantona - 7 Paulo Futre - 5 Gianfraco Zola - 5 John Barnes - 4 Dennis Bergkamp - 4 Laurent Blanc - 4 Jurgen Klinsmann - 4 Jean-Pierre Papin - 4 Matthias Sammer - 4 Davor Suker - 4 Gary Lineker - 3 Robert Prosinecki - 3 Hristo Stoichkov - 3 Zinedine Zidane - 3 Paul Gascoigne - 2 Rafael Martin Vazquez - 2 Darko Pancev - 2 Frank Rijkaard - 2 Dragan Stojkovic - 2 Gianluca Vialli - 2 Salvatore Bagni - 1 Laurent Blanc - 1 Alessandro Del Piero - 1 Luis Figo - 1 Ryan Giggs - 1 Interesting maybe that I score Van Basten one more for seasons this way, but that's down to 89/90 compared to 1990 as a whole, and 86/87 compared to 1987 as a whole I suppose, and it's different to name 5 players rather than only a winner of an award - I have him winning in 1988, 1989 and 1992 just as Ballon d'Or presents it, and not top for any seasons just like Unicef's award shows it too!
Thanks for the appreciation Puck. I thought it was interesting to look into how things can differ with seasons as opposed to calendar years (and maybe how looking at both periods with equal weighting might give the best historical impression), and it seemed with this thread in mind the best way to do it was to try to make my own choices (I suppose I feel about as informed as ever at this point, after so long on Big Soccer and with various sources and footage available nowadays to compliment previous ideas and memories). But comparing the official awards gives an overview in itself too, so hopefully that's also useful to see in summary form. I'm sure some others might like to try picking top 5s for seasons, but it is slightly awkward to do for the whole world as opposed to just Europe I guess. Nice post on the tactics thread (I saw at first glance some references to 'Baresi's Milan' rather than 'Sacchi's MIlan' and I guess it can even spill over into this topic of this thread, if the question is was it a case of tactics making players great or players making tactics great to a bigger extent)! Obviously I understand your reservations about what Gregoriak found in terms of the author, but with that info touching on pre-WM tactics for half-backs and full-backs I see (as well as highlighting interesting comparisons between Orth and Gyorgy Sarosi for example), and your Cruyff/Sacchi etc related tactical information it is quite an informative week for understanding football history and development!
I don't agree with all your choices but it is done even handed and it is fair. Also because 1992 to 1997 is a difficult period, with football in transitions, and you've managed that well (repped that 1992 to 1997 post).
For clarification (as I was concentrating on the old Ballon d'Or format of European Players of the Year/Season for that exercise), as difficult as it would be to integrate not only others playing in Europe but all players around the world even when their seasons run through a single calendar year, if I tried for that period I guess I'd end up with something like this (still trying to judge everyone on a summer-summer basis as if the awards were handed out in August for that one).... 1977/78 - Rossi, 1978 - Mario Kempes (could be the other way round perhaps even though) 1978/79 - Keegan, 1979 - Zico 1979/80 - Zico, 1980 - Diego Maradona 1980/81 - Zico, 1981 - Zico 1981/82 - Zico, 1982 - Zico 1982/82 - Dalglish, 1983 - Platini 1983/84 - Platini, 1984 - Platini 1984/85 - Platini, 1985 - Platini 1985/86 - Diego Maradona, 1986 - Diego Maradona 1986/87 - Diego Maradona, 1987 - Gullit 1987/88 - Gullit, 1988 - Van Basten 1988/89 - Baresi, 1989 - Van Basten 1989/90 - Matthaus, 1990 - Matthaus 1990/91 - Savicevic, 1991 - Papin 1991/92 - M.Laudrup, 1992, Van Basten 1992/93 - R.Baggio, 1993 - R.Baggio 1993/94 - Romario, 1994 - Romario 1994/95 - Savicevic, 1995 - George Weah 1995/96 - George Weah, 1996 - Ronaldo 1996/97 - Ronaldo, 1997 - Ronaldo
I think I definitely had more doubts revolving around the South American players for this, not only because of the judging period not aligning with seasons. I wondered even about Zico for 1978/79 or 1982/83, but I feel more certain about the claims of Keegan and Dalglish respectively (78/79 probably misses a lot of good games by Zico during 1979 and I'm not aware of late 78 being great for him; while Dalglish starting so well in 82/83 and continuing to have a great season throughout makes a hard one to beat for the Brazilian anyway). Meanwhile, Maradona in early years might seem to have been given the 'minimum'. Obviously Guerin Sportivo's conclusion for 1979 helps show his potential for being selected there (changing that from Zico would alter my previous lists of course (as would not giving Kempes 1978 calendar year) but it still seems a great option for Zico to me overall so I'm not convinced on changing that myself necessarily). 1980/81 might seem a good option for Maradona even, but again Zico's claims definitely seem great there too, with club and NT games combined. 1986/87 somehow (looking at European players only, and then all world players included too) seems about as uncertain for me as any year. So I'm not sure on going with Maradona necessarily, but it seems feasible enough on the other hand. It might be interesting to get conformation on whether he was eligible already for the Unicef Player of the Season award that Futre was given, but it'd just be one sources verdict anyway and while I'm sure not fully based on Porto's triumph and his best and most significant moments that helped achieve that, he would certainly be in the public eye in that way - intriguingly he was being compared to Maradona at that time and perhaps even resembled (at a lower level, but in style of play) young Maradona or 1986 World Cup Maradona more than Maradona himself was beginning to or would go on to as he became more and more the midfield playmaker over the following years.
....and in terms of European seasons I'd be particularly unsure of in terms of offering a Ballon d'Or style vote, regarding the lower placings especially, I think two I already altered or considered altering mid-posting would come to mind: 87/88 - Other prominent names in contention could include the likes of Oleg Protasov and Franco Baresi 89/90 - Other prominent names in contention could include the likes of Enzo Scifo and Roberto Baggio.
Interesting. Can you highlight some things for Protasov, Scifo and Baggio for that time? (outside the tournaments perhaps) Nice attempts.
Protasov was 1987 Soviet Player of the Year and was doing well for USSR in that period (culminating in Euro 88 but before that too). The Soviet championship ran through the 1987 calendar year of course (as discussed re: 1986 for Belanov/Zavarov etc). Scifo's reputation was reviving already before the World Cup I think, with a new lease of life at Auxerre. Looking at the general story and some footage, I think it might be that he earned his 1990 Foreign Player of the Year award in France a little more for what he did after the World Cup as opposed to before, but I'm not informed enough to be certain on that and it seems he was already very good before the summer. Baggio was the up-and-coming star in Italy of course, and his DBS Calcio rating for 89/90 is pretty good if not at the top of the list. Some quality moments against very good teams in the Italian championship. Seems that he was decisively better for Fiorentina than Juventus in that period before/after the World Cup (immediately before/after I mean). I guess he wouldn't be too far away anyway, but hadn't felt he must be in the list for sure.
This looks as an interesting evaluation of the 1978-79 season by Guerin Sportivo https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CALCIO-7...142428?hash=item33d662f85c:g:G2AAAOSw23lZtF74 Of course, Italian media had their own predispositions and tendencies.
Starting up again, I've got this as my selection for 97/98 for European players: 1 - Dennis Bergkamp, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Alessandro Del Piero, 4 - Luis Figo, 5 - Edgar Davids And this for 1998 calendar year: 1 - Zinedine Zidane, 2 - Dennis Bergkamp, 3 - Raul, 4 - Michael Owen, 5 - Luis Figo Zidane won the Ballon d'Or, Onze d'Or, World Soccer Player of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year accolades. Brazilian Ronaldo was eligible for those, but did win the first UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award for the 97/98 season in European club football.
Personally I'd have Del Piero as #1 for 1997-98, but more or less I lean to agree with the top group for both categories (not sure about Raul). Although Del Piero his style wasn't as 'unique' and special as Laudrup or some of the others in this group. Difficult to express but despite being technically more than sufficient others had a more distinct style somehow.
For 1998/99 I'll go with: 1 - Andriy Shevchenko, 2 - Luis Figo, 3 - David Beckham, 4 - Raul, 5 - Roy Keane And for 1999: 1 - Luis Figo, 2 - Andriy Shevchenko, 3 - David Beckham, 4 - Zinedine Zidane, 5 - Paul Scholes Brazilian Rivaldo took all the awards I've been mentioning for 1999, always ahead of 2nd placed Beckham the top European (with around twice the points voted for on average). Beckham was this time UEFA Club Footballer of 98/99 though.
Yeah, for the main season I think I'd at least consider him too, but the World Cup can tip things towards Bergkamp and Zidane for me. Raul did really well in the second half of 1998 (start of 98/99) I think.
Thinking about it maybe the Del Piero of 95/96 had elements of being more distinct than the 97/98 version somehow. Just because of standing out scoring (repeatedly) the 'Del Piero zone' type goals, whereas in 97/98 I suppose he'd be more of a typical trequarista or support attacker, but with more influence over the pitch in more of a central/key role. But yeah in general I see what you're saying, in that he had exceptional technique but was in some respects 'normal' more than some others who had a more elaborate game and collection of skills, attributes and moves etc.
For 1999/00 my own selection is: 1 - Luis Figo, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Raul, 4 - Andriy Shevchenko, 5 - David Beckham And 2000: 1 - Luis Figo, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Andriy Shevchenko, 4 - Francesco Totti, 5 - Raul The Europeans Figo (winning Ballon d'Or and World Soccer Player of the Year) and Zidane (winning Onze d'Or and FIFA Player of the Year) were sharing around the awards of 2000, but Argentine Fernando Redondo was named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year for 1999/00.
For 2000/01 I have: 1 - Luis Figo, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Pavel Nedved, 4 - Francesco Totti, 5 - Rui Costa And calendar year 2001: 1 - Luis Figo, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Francesco Totti, 4 - Robert Pires, 5 - Michael Owen Figo did take just the FIFA World Player of the Year for 2001, with the Onze d'Or going to Zidane, and Owen collecting World Soccer's Player of the Year title in addition to the Ballon d'Or. Stefen Effenberg was actually named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year for 2000/01, although due to having less votes as best midfielder he missed out on that to Gaizka Mendieta (Mendieta also won that positional prize against Redondo in 1999/00 which suggests of course Redondo and then Effenberg did not win overall by landslides in these two seasons, but nevertheless did get more votes for best player overall than anyone else). So all in all quite an open year (and even moreso 2000/01 season?), with various candidates for top positions, but without a clear consensus among various sources.
I think I'll stop this next section for a summary after 2009 (even though the Club Footballer of the Year award continued to 2009/10 - for 2010 we had the FIFA Ballon d'Or and I think I should use that rather than the reported journalist vote which would have given the old Ballon d'Or to Sneijder; the last 8 years will then be the FIFA Ballon d'Or period plus the return to an adjusted Ballon d'Or from France Football recently). So 2 more years/seasons and I'll do a half-way tally up for my own scores, but I'll leave the Club Footballer of the Year vs Ballon d'Or summary until after the 2009 post.
For 01/02 I'm going with: 1 - Zinedine Zidane, 2 - Robert Pires, 3 - Ruud van Nistelrooy, 4 - Francesco Totti, 5 - David Beckham And for 2002: 1 - Zinedine Zidane, 2 - Thierry Henry, 3 - Patrick Vieira, 4 - Michael Ballack, 5 - Freddie Ljungberg Zidane was named as UEFA Club Footballer of 01/02. Brazilian Ronaldo, eligible for all world and European based awards, indeed took every one in his comeback year. In the FIFA and Ballon d'Or results Oliver Kahn got slightly closer than Zidane, who was on the podium so to speak for the Onze award (with Brazilian Ronaldinho), while Ballack was on the podium for World Soccer's Player of the Year (with Brazilian Roberto Carlos who had a similar position for the Ballon d'Or too) and in a twist reminiscent of Mendieta beating Club Footballers of the Year to UEFA's Midfielder of the Year title due to the voting system, Ballack was named that for 01/02 rather than Zidane. Complicated outside of every 2002 vote going Ronaldo's way ultimately (except the World Cup Golden Ball which was awarded to Kahn before the Final was over....with Ronaldo's chances lessened with that timing having been perhaps enhanced by it in 1998 when he did receive that trophy, but not the World Cup which he probably did enjoy more in 2002 to be fair!).
My 2002/03 European player selections are: 1 - Zinedine Zidane, 2 - Pavel Nedved, 3 - Thierry Henry, 4 - Patrick Vieira, 5 - Ruud van Nistelrooy And for 2003 calendar year I'm settling on: 1 - Thierry Henry, 2 - Zinedine Zidane, 3 - Pavel Nedved, 4 - Henrik Larsson, 5 - Alessandro Nesta Gianluigi Buffon was declared UEFA Club Footballer of 2002/03. Meanwhile for 2003 calendar year Nedved (UEFA Club Midfielder of 02/03) came top for World Soccer's Player of the Year fairly comfortably, but more significantly won the Ballon d'Or. Zidane was FIFA Player of the Year, and Henry won the Onze d'Or.
So, my own 'votes' tallied in terms of points for 98 to 03.... Annual calendar year votes 1 - Zinedine Zidane - 24 (Juventus/Real Madrid/France) 2 - Luis Figo - 16 (Barcelona/Real Madrid/Portugal) 3 - Thierry Henry - 9 (Arsenal/France) 4 - Andriy Shevchenko - 7 (Dynamo Kiev/AC Milan/Ukraine) 5 - Francesco Totti - 5 (Roma/Italy) 6= Dennis Bergkamp - 4 (Arsenal/Netherlands) 6= Raul - 4 (Real Madrid/Spain) 8= David Beckham - 3 (Manchester United/England) 8= Pavel Nedved - 3 (Juventus/Czech Republic) 8= Michael Owen - 3 (Liverpool/England) 8= Patrick Vieira - 3 (Arsenal/France) 12= Michael Ballack - 2 (Bayer Leverkusen/Bayern Munich/Germany) 12= Henrik Larsson - 2 (Celtic/Sweden) 12= Robert Pires - 2 (Arsenal/France) 15= Freddie Ljungberg - 1 (Arsenal/Sweden) 15= Alessandro Nesta - 1 (AC Milan/Italy) 15= Paul Scholes - 1 (Manchester United/England) European season votes (including summer tournaments) 1 - Zinedine Zidane - 22 (Juventus/Real Madrid/France) 2 - Luis Figo - 16 (Barcelona/Real Madrid/Portugal) 3= Pavel Nedved - 7 (Lazio/Juventus/Czech Republic) 3= Andriy Shevchenko - 7 (Dynamo Kiev/AC Milan/Ukraine) 5= David Beckham - 5 (Manchester United/England) 5= Dennis Bergkamp - 5 (Arsenal/Netherlands) 5= Raul - 5 (Real Madrid/Spain) 8= Ruud van Nistelrooy - 4 (Manchester United/Netherlands) 8= Robert Pires - 4 (Arsenal/France) 8= Francesco Totti - 4 (Roma/Italy) 11= Alessandro Del Piero - 3 (Juventus/Italy) 11= Thierry Henry - 3 (Arsenal/France) 13 - Patrick Vieira - 2 (Arsenal/France) 14= Edgar Davids - 1 (Juventus/Netherlands) 14= Roy Keane - 1 (Manchester United/Ireland) 14= Rui Costa - 1 (Fiorentina/Portugal)