Every month the ESM is making a team of the month. ESM is a cooperation between 9 European Sports Magazines. The nine magazines are: Voetbal International (Holland) Der Kicker (Germany) Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) World Soccer (England) Voetbal Magazine (Belgium) Don Balon (Spain) Fanatik (Turkye) Sport-Express (Russia) Tipsbladet (Denmark) en A Bola (Portugal) All player that recieved more than 3 ESM Team of the Month nominations sorted by position and how often they made the team. Data from September 1995 - February 2011 (December 2008 is missing!!! please post if you can find it!!!) Player who played significant time before the 1995/96 season are marked with a (*). Remember WC and Euro performance are NOT factor in, because the team is only selected from September - May! Hours of work I hope anyone cares. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas 12 Edwin van der Sar 12 Oliver Kahn 9 Peter Čech 8 Gianluigi Buffon 8 Júlio César 7 Angelo Peruzzi* 6 Jens Lehmann 5 Grégory Coupet 4 Peter Schmeichel* 4 Vítor Baía* 4 Víctor Valdés 3 Pepe Reina 3 Timo Hildebrand 3 Fabien Barthez 3 Santiago Cañizares * 3 Defender Roberto Carlos 34 Paolo Maldini* 21 Carles Puyol 19 John Terry 18 Daniel Alves 18 Lilian Thuram 15 Alessandro Nesta 14 Fernando Hierro* 14 Nemanja Vidić 14 Rio Ferdinand 13 Maicon 11 Laurent Blanc* 11 Lúcio 10 Jocelyn Angloma* 10 Walter Samuel 9 Sami Hyypiä 8 Siniša Mihajlović* 8 Jaap Stam 8 Sergio Ramos 7 Fabio Cannavaro 7 Bixente Lizarazu 7 Daniel Van Buyten 6 Christian Panucci 6 Frank de Boer* 6 Patrice Evra 5 Kolo Touré 5 Cris 5 Ashley Cole 4 Gerard Piqué 4 Jamie Carragher 4 John Arne Riise 4 Roberto Ayala 4 Iván Helguera 4 Cafu* 4 Javier Zanetti 4 Míchel Salgado 4 Lothar Matthäus* 4 Ciro Ferrara* 4 Danny Blind* 4 Philipp Lahm 3 Marco Materazzi 3 Cristian Chivu 3 Vincent Candela 3 Martin Keown* 3 Paolo Montero 3 Frank Leboeuf* 3 Gary Neville 3 Matthias Sammer* 3 Michael Reiziger 3 Philippe Albert* 3 Midfielder Zinedine Zidane 23 Ronaldinho 19 Frank Lampard 15 Francesco Totti 14 Pavel Nedvěd 14 David Beckham 14 Xavi 13 Rivaldo 13 Luís Figo 12 Alessandro Del Piero 12 Kaká 11 Cesc Fàbregas 10 Patrick Vieira 9 Clarence Seedorf 9 Andrés Iniesta 8 Michael Ballack 8 Stefan Effenberg 8 Esteban Cambiasso 7 Luis Enrique* 7 Michael Essien 6 Wesley Sneijder 6 Steven Gerrard 6 Juninho 6 Deco 6 Juan Sebastián Verón 6 Rui Costa 6 Mancini 5 Robert Pirès 5 Ryan Giggs 5 Mehmet Scholl 5 Franck Ribéry 4 Ludovic Giuly 4 Pablo Aimar 4 Gaizka Mendieta 4 Roy Keane* 4 Fernando Redondo* 4 Mesut Özil 3 Rafael van der Vaart 3 Andrea Pirlo 3 Dejan Stanković 3 Rubén Baraja 3 Freddie Ljungberg 3 Paul Scholes 3 Émerson 3 Diego Simeone 3 Youri Djorkaeff 3 Andreas Möller 3 Jari Litmanen 3 Raí* 3 Forward Lionel Messi 25 Raúl 20 Ronaldo 18 Andriy Shevchenko 17 Samuel Eto'o 16 Cristiano Ronaldo 16 Christian Vieri 12 Ruud van Nistelrooy 10 Thierry Henry 10 Wayne Rooney 10 Michael Owen 9 Zlatan Ibrahimović 9 Didier Drogba 8 Gabriel Batistuta* 8 Luca Toni 7 Hernán Crespo 7 Arjen Robben 7 Roy Makaay 6 David Villa 5 Filippo Inzaghi 5 Oliver Bierhoff* 5 Fernando Torres 4 David Trezeguet 4 Pedja Mijatovic* 4 George Weah* 4 Vedad Ibišević 3 Robinho 3 Frédéric Kanouté 3 Javier Saviola 3 Adriano 3 Vincenzo Montella 3 Mateja Kežman 3 Jardel 3 Davor Šuker* 3 Eric Cantona* 3
I remember whenever I read World Soccer seeing these Teams of the Month listed. One thing I'm not sure on is whether the readers vote or the jornalists of the magazines compile the teams (I think the jounalists). I've just read that until 1997 the French magazine was Onze Mondial (who I know let their readers vote 11 players for their team of the year and also for their player of the year awarding the top 3 a prize). In 1997 it changed to France Football, who of course created the Balon D'or. I don't know about the missing month, but I did find this ESM Team of the Year for 1994/95 (no monthly teams that season): 1994/95 Season XI Baía (Pto)Blind (Ajx) Rijkaard (Ajx) Sammer (BDo) Maldini (Mil) M.Laudrup (RMa) Litmanen (Ajx) Zola (Pma) Klinsmann (ToH) Shearer (BlR) Zamorano (RMa)trainer: Van Gaal (Ajx).
http://www.worldsoccer.com/esm11/december2010.php Change the 'december2010' part in the url to whatever team you want. The teams are made by journalist, not voted by fans. Each magazine submitts their team and the players who appear in most teams make the final ESM team of the month. Thanks for the Season XI 94/95 team, although I can't think of a way to include it into the statistics.
The team for December 2008 was: Pepe Reina (3 votes) Maicon (6 votes) Giorgio Chiellini (5 votes) Carles Puyol (4 votes) Steven Gerrard (7 votes) Xavi (6 votes) Lionel Messi (7 votes) Thierry Henry (5 votes) Wayne Rooney (4 votes) Amauri (4 votes) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (7 votes) Source: World Soccer February 2009 I had a look through all the World Soccer editions for the 1994-5 season but they did not list these. I presume they were not in the group at the time.
It;s a very good effort to put out Schuppe. About the list, well it's always debatable ... in my 2 cents: 1- Some players ended up in wrong position i.e. Mathauss in Defender, and Del Piero in Midfielder type ... WRONGLY or mistaken seriously 2- The number of votes were very much imformative rather than true merits ... for example: GK: Cassilas 12 and Van DerSaar 12 made Buffon so underated with 8 (as we all know who was greatest among them) DF: Cafu only 4 (??) while Dani Alves 18 (coincided with the great Barca 2006-now). Cafu was among the top 5 best RB all time surely. MF: Lampard 15 became too overated with Redondo 4 or Gigg /Aimar 4 (?) FW: Vieri 12 was too high for Trezeguet and Crespo 4 each. They all same level
Thank you! Can't edit the post sadly... Matthäus played as a defender in the late 90s. Would change Del Piero to Forward, but I'm not able to edit my post. Yeah obviously ... like all statistical approaches. What did you expect? Cafu, Lampard and Vieri were the biggest three surprises for me indeed.
The 1994/95 team was listed as a seperate entry. There weren't any votes for each month. I would think they voted after the season was finished either as an introduction to the ESM Team of Month project or they initially were going to do it annually but changed it to monthly. The 94/95 team can't really count in the analysis (though it could if looking at the Teams of the Season) - the listed players may have got between 2 and 8 monthly inclusions in theory but it would seem it wasn't picked on this basis and certainly not published as such. The differences in players included by each publication would be interesting - I'd imagine most often included a few from their own league: I've located my February 2005 issue of World Soccer with the 10 teams of A Bola (Portugal), Fanatik (Turkey), Gazetta Dello Sport (Italy), Sport Express (Russia), Voetbal International (Holland), Don Ballon (Spain), Foot (Belgium), Kicker (Germany), Tips Bladet (Denmark) and World Soccer (United Kingdom) for December 2004. So lets see if I'm right (only one month sample though) - I'm showing national team players for each nation too, highlighted in bold & if the publication picks the most of it's own national team players, in blue or joint most, in green. A Bola - 5 Premiership (Ferreira, Terry, Cole, Robben, Henry), 4 La Liga (Puyol, Xavi, Deco, Ronaldinho), 2 Serie A (Buffon, Shevchenko) & 2 Potuguese (Ferreira, Deco) Fanatik - 3 Serie A (Thuram, Shevchenko, Montella), 3 Dutch league (Bouma, Landzaat, Yildirim), 2 La Liga (Baptista, Ronaldinho), 1 Turkish league (Mondragon), 1 Bundesliga (Stalteri), 1 Premiership (Lampard) Gazetta Dello Sport - 3 Serie A (Buffon, Nesta, Shevchenko), 3 Premiership (Terry, Lampard, Henry), 3 La Liga (Puyol, Deco, Ronaldinho), 2 Portuguese league (Maniche, Diego) & 2 Italians (Buffon, Nesta) Sport Express - 5 Premiership (Campbell, Terry, Tiago, Lampard, Robben), 3 La Liga (Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o), 3 Serie A (Buffon, Thuram, Shevchenko) Voetbal International - 5 Premiership (Terry, Cole, Lampard, Robben, Henry), 3 La Liga (Puyol, Deco, Ronaldinho), 2 Serie A (Buffon, Shevchenko), 1 Dutch league (Landzaat) & 2 Dutch (Landzaat, Robben) Don Ballon - 3 La Liga (Kameni, Deco, Ezquerro), 3 Premiership (Campbell, Lampard, Henry), 2 Serie A (Zambrotta, Adriano), 1 French league (Maicon), 1 Portuguese league (Maniche), 1 Dutch league (Landzaat) & 1 Spaniard (Ezquerro) Foot - 4 La Liga (Puyol, Xavi, Ronaldinho, Eto'o), 4 Premiership (Cech, Terry, Lampard, Henry), 2 Bundesliga (Bordon, Ballack), 1 Serie A (Shevchenko) Kicker - 4 Premiership (Terry, Campbell, Henry, Robben), 3 La Liga (van Bronckhorst, Deco, Ronaldinho), 2 Bundesliga (Ballack, Klose), 2 Serie A (De Sanctis, Cafu) & 2 Germans (Ballack, Klose) Tips Bladet - 3 Serie A (Buffon, Pizarro, Totti), 3 Premiership (Terry, Gerrard, Henry), 3 La Liga (Marchena, Deco, Eto'o), 1 Bundesliga (Hleb), 1 Dutch league (Cocu) World Soccer - 4 La Liga (Puyol, Xavi, Ronaldinho, Eto'o), 3 Premiership (Cech, Carvalho, Gerrard), 2 Serie A (Maldini, Shevchenko), 1 Bundesliga (Ernst), 1 French league (Nilmar) & 1 English player (Gerrard) No Ronaldinho selected by Don Balon then, and no Terry selected by World Soccer though most of the other magazines selected them. Overall, there's a slight tendecncy to pick more players from the leagues of the nations the magazines are published in and to pick more of the national team players from that nation than on average. Not by much though and not in every case. Perhaps in other months and going back to the 90's especially this might've been slightly more the case? It's too much work to do this analysis for every month of course, but it'd be interesting to see which players were left out of the overall selection but included in the selection of the magazine published in the country of the league they played in. EDIT - For comparsion here is the final ESM Team of the Month for December 2004 listed by league: 5 Premiership (Terry, Campbell, Lampard, Robben, Henry), 4 La Liga (Puyol, Deco, Ronaldinho, Eto'o), 2 Serie A (Buffon, Shevchenko). The number of votes for these players were: Buffon 5 - A Bola, Gazetta Dello Sport, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Tips Bladet Puyol 5 - A Bola, Gazetta Dello Sport, Voetbal International, Foot, World Soccer Campbell 3 - Sport Express, Don Balon, Kicker Terry 7 - A Bola, Gazetta Dello Sport, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Foot, Kicker, Tips Bladet Lampard 6 - Fanatik, Gazetta Dello Sport, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Don Balon, Foot Deco 7 - A Bola, Gazetta Dello Sport, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Don Balon, Kicker, Tips Bladet Robben 4 - A Bola, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Kicker Ronaldinho 8 - A Bola, Fanatik, Gazetta Dello Sport, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Foot, Kicker, World Soccer Shevchenko 7 - A Bola, Fanatik, Gazetta Dello Sport, Sport Express, Voetbal International, Foot, World Soccer Eto'o 4 - Sport Express, Foot, Tips Bladet, World Soccer Henry 7 - A Bola, Gazetta Dello Sport, Voetbal International, Don Balon, Foot, Kicker, Tips Bladet * So just among the players making the final team, in this month they were less likely to have received votes from the publication within the country they played in.
I'll try to explain and put those results into context so they won't seem that weird anymore: GK: Not really an explantion for the voting results but my take on goalkeepers: The smallest gap between #1 best of all time and #25 of all position is easily among GK. I'll take the great GK with a hot streak ... I'm equally happy with either Casillas, Kahn or Buffon. As long as my team has a solid goaltender and not a complete sieve (All English GK of the past decade) it's the least important position. To illustrate my point: Have you ever seen any club trying to upgrade they GK when they already have a World Class one? It's very common for all other position ... Real Madrid from '00 till now is probably has the biggest player replacement rate in history. The only two never questioned or replaced were Zidane and Casillas. That's telling. Goaltending is a two way system: It either is a problem or it's not (if you have Kahn, Casillas or Buffon) There is nothing in between DF: Cafu - very good for a long time, but I've never seen him called one of the best defenders of all time .... until I stumbeled upon the bigsoccer board. And it's not that he played for minor teams with little exposure ... Daniel Alves made the ESM team regularly as a Sevilla player ... also you might look back at the individual months where he got selected - can you think of a player that deserved it more in any of those months? MF: Redondo .... DM are not very popular among the voters, that's it! Giggs is the easiest one to explain ... the great thing about Ryan is his consistency - through the last 15 years he was almost always a Top 25 - 30 player .... but hardly Top 10 material! I'm sure if ESM would select two allstar teams each month it would reflect Giggs' value alot better. Aimar was terrific in ... well 4 months of his career where he played to his potential. Not surprised. FW: I have no idea, they all played in the same league, at the same time and scored the same.
That's the one thing that stood out for me, looking at the list. Lots of OMs in midfield and very few DMs. This makes for nice sounding all-star teams that wouldn't work so well on the pitch.
It's not just that. The formations selected almost always have 3 defenders (who are often wing-backs or wingers, Gareth Bale is the second most selected "defender" this season), then 2 or 3 midfielders (who are normally all attacking) and then the rest strikers. Still, the team of the month is always the first thing I turn to when my copy of World Soccer arrives. A few feature this month as well sets out the number of votes that each player has got so far this season.
I guess if the objective is to identify the high achievers of the month, it's to be expected that they will tend to select more attacking players, because they are the ones more likely to stand out. I don't have a problem with that, as long as we understand in advance that it's about recognizing the monthly performance of individuals rather than putting together the best possible team of the month.
I understand that voters chosed their best players, no matter what position are playing. Then ESM show their top players and additionaly an All Star Team (system depends whether are more strikers or mids in top list)
Updated for March 2011 Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar 13 Iker Casillas 12 Oliver Kahn 9 Peter Čech 8 Gianluigi Buffon 8 Júlio César 7 Angelo Peruzzi* 6 Jens Lehmann 5 Grégory Coupet 4 Peter Schmeichel* 4 Vítor Baía* 4 Pepe Reina 4 Víctor Valdés 3 Timo Hildebrand 3 Fabien Barthez 3 Santiago Cañizares * 3 Defender Roberto Carlos 34 Paolo Maldini* 21 Carles Puyol 20 Daniel Alves 19 John Terry 18 Lilian Thuram 15 Alessandro Nesta 14 Fernando Hierro* 14 Nemanja Vidić 14 Rio Ferdinand 13 Maicon 12 Laurent Blanc* 11 Lúcio 10 Jocelyn Angloma* 10 Walter Samuel 9 Sami Hyypiä 8 Siniša Mihajlović* 8 Jaap Stam 8 Sergio Ramos 7 Fabio Cannavaro 7 Bixente Lizarazu 7 Daniel Van Buyten 6 Christian Panucci 6 Frank de Boer* 6 Patrice Evra 5 Kolo Touré 5 Cris 5 Ashley Cole 4 Gerard Piqué 4 Jamie Carragher 4 John Arne Riise 4 Roberto Ayala 4 Iván Helguera 4 Cafu* 4 Javier Zanetti 4 Míchel Salgado 4 Lothar Matthäus* 4 Ciro Ferrara* 4 Danny Blind* 4 Philipp Lahm 3 Marco Materazzi 3 Cristian Chivu 3 Vincent Candela 3 Martin Keown* 3 Paolo Montero 3 Frank Leboeuf* 3 Gary Neville 3 Matthias Sammer* 3 Michael Reiziger 3 Philippe Albert* 3 Mats Hummels 3 Midfielder Zinedine Zidane 23 Ronaldinho 19 Frank Lampard 15 Xavi 15 Francesco Totti 14 Pavel Nedvěd 14 David Beckham 14 Rivaldo 13 Luís Figo 12 Alessandro Del Piero 12 Kaká 11 Cesc Fàbregas 10 Patrick Vieira 9 Clarence Seedorf 9 Andrés Iniesta 8 Michael Ballack 8 Stefan Effenberg 8 Esteban Cambiasso 7 Luis Enrique* 7 Steven Gerrard 7 Wesley Sneijder 7 Michael Essien 6 Juninho 6 Deco 6 Juan Sebastián Verón 6 Rui Costa 6 Mancini 5 Robert Pirès 5 Ryan Giggs 5 Mehmet Scholl 5 Franck Ribéry 4 Ludovic Giuly 4 Pablo Aimar 4 Gaizka Mendieta 4 Roy Keane* 4 Fernando Redondo* 4 Mesut Özil 4 Rafael van der Vaart 3 Andrea Pirlo 3 Dejan Stanković 3 Rubén Baraja 3 Freddie Ljungberg 3 Paul Scholes 3 Émerson 3 Diego Simeone 3 Youri Djorkaeff 3 Andreas Möller 3 Jari Litmanen 3 Raí* 3 Forward Lionel Messi 26 Raúl 20 Ronaldo 18 Andriy Shevchenko 17 Samuel Eto'o 17 Cristiano Ronaldo 16 Christian Vieri 12 Wayne Rooney 12 Thierry Henry 11 Ruud van Nistelrooy 10 Zlatan Ibrahimović 10 Michael Owen 9 Didier Drogba 8 Gabriel Batistuta* 8 Luca Toni 7 Hernán Crespo 7 Arjen Robben 7 Roy Makaay 6 David Villa 5 Filippo Inzaghi 5 Oliver Bierhoff* 5 Fernando Torres 4 David Trezeguet 4 Pedja Mijatovic* 4 George Weah* 4 Vedad Ibišević 3 Robinho 3 Frédéric Kanouté 3 Javier Saviola 3 Adriano 3 Vincenzo Montella 3 Mateja Kežman 3 Jardel 3 Davor Šuker* 3 Eric Cantona* 3 Karim Benzema 3
Updated for May 2011 Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar 14 Iker Casillas 12 Oliver Kahn 9 Peter Čech 8 Gianluigi Buffon 8 Júlio César 7 Angelo Peruzzi* 6 Jens Lehmann 5 Grégory Coupet 4 Peter Schmeichel* 4 Vítor Baía* 4 Pepe Reina 4 Víctor Valdés 3 Timo Hildebrand 3 Fabien Barthez 3 Santiago Cañizares * 3 Defender Roberto Carlos 34 Paolo Maldini* 21 Daniel Alves 21 Carles Puyol 20 John Terry 18 Nemanja Vidić 16 Lilian Thuram 15 Alessandro Nesta 14 Fernando Hierro* 14 Rio Ferdinand 13 Maicon 12 Laurent Blanc* 11 Lúcio 10 Jocelyn Angloma* 10 Walter Samuel 9 Sami Hyypiä 8 Siniša Mihajlović* 8 Jaap Stam 8 Sergio Ramos 7 Fabio Cannavaro 7 Bixente Lizarazu 7 Daniel Van Buyten 6 Christian Panucci 6 Frank de Boer* 6 Patrice Evra 5 Kolo Touré 5 Cris 5 Gerard Piqué 5 Ashley Cole 4 Jamie Carragher 4 John Arne Riise 4 Roberto Ayala 4 Iván Helguera 4 Cafu* 4 Javier Zanetti 4 Míchel Salgado 4 Lothar Matthäus* 4 Ciro Ferrara* 4 Danny Blind* 4 Mats Hummels 4 Philipp Lahm 3 Marco Materazzi 3 Cristian Chivu 3 Vincent Candela 3 Martin Keown* 3 Paolo Montero 3 Frank Leboeuf* 3 Gary Neville 3 Matthias Sammer* 3 Michael Reiziger 3 Philippe Albert* 3 Midfielder Zinedine Zidane 23 Ronaldinho 19 Xavi 17 Frank Lampard 15 Francesco Totti 14 Pavel Nedvěd 14 David Beckham 14 Rivaldo 13 Luís Figo 12 Alessandro Del Piero 12 Kaká 11 Cesc Fàbregas 10 Patrick Vieira 9 Clarence Seedorf 9 Andrés Iniesta 9 Michael Ballack 8 Stefan Effenberg 8 Esteban Cambiasso 7 Luis Enrique* 7 Steven Gerrard 7 Wesley Sneijder 7 Michael Essien 6 Juninho 6 Deco 6 Juan Sebastián Verón 6 Rui Costa 6 Ryan Giggs 6 Mancini 5 Robert Pirès 5 Mehmet Scholl 5 Franck Ribéry 4 Ludovic Giuly 4 Pablo Aimar 4 Gaizka Mendieta 4 Roy Keane* 4 Fernando Redondo* 4 Mesut Özil 4 Rafael van der Vaart 3 Andrea Pirlo 3 Dejan Stanković 3 Rubén Baraja 3 Freddie Ljungberg 3 Paul Scholes 3 Émerson 3 Diego Simeone 3 Youri Djorkaeff 3 Andreas Möller 3 Jari Litmanen 3 Raí* 3 Forward Lionel Messi 28 Raúl 20 Ronaldo 18 Andriy Shevchenko 17 Samuel Eto'o 17 Cristiano Ronaldo 17 Wayne Rooney 14 Christian Vieri 12 Thierry Henry 11 Ruud van Nistelrooy 10 Zlatan Ibrahimović 10 Michael Owen 9 Didier Drogba 8 Gabriel Batistuta* 8 Luca Toni 7 Hernán Crespo 7 Arjen Robben 7 Roy Makaay 6 David Villa 5 Filippo Inzaghi 5 Oliver Bierhoff* 5 Fernando Torres 4 David Trezeguet 4 Pedja Mijatovic* 4 George Weah* 4 Vedad Ibišević 3 Robinho 3 Frédéric Kanouté 3 Javier Saviola 3 Adriano 3 Vincenzo Montella 3 Mateja Kežman 3 Jardel 3 Davor Šuker* 3 Eric Cantona* 3 Karim Benzema 3
Alright unfortunaly I lost the file - now I don't have infos on all player with <3 selections... Still might update it soon.
Isn't it an idea to collect all ESM teams of the month here? To post it? On RSSSF it is only complete until 2007 or so.
I lost the file which had all players with less than 3 selections, so adding new teams could make it inaccurate. I might redo it but not now.