Juventus and Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved has been named 2003 European Footballer of the Year. Nedved topped a poll from 52 countries published by France Football magazine on Monday with 190 points. Arsenal striker Thierry Henry came second with 128 points and AC Milan's Paolo Maldini third with 123 points. Nedved had a superb 2002-03 season for Juve, guiding the team to the Champions League final, which he missed through suspension. The 31-year-old was also a key player as Juve won Italy's Serie A and a major factor in the Czech Republic's successful Euro 2004 qualification campaign. Arsenal and France striker Henry was also second in the Fifa Player of the Year award, which was won by Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane. Nedved had finished fourth in the Fifa poll. The Czech Republic international joined Juve from Italian rivals Lazio for £25m in July 2001. He is the second Czech player to win the honour after Josef Masopust won the award in 1962. Nedved has also been named Czech athlete of the year in his home country after a poll of sports journalists. Other winners- 2002: Ronaldo (Brazil) 2001: Michael Owen (England) 2000: Luis Figo (Portugal)
This seems a lot more justified than Zidane's award. I take the word of football journalists over national coaches whose knowledge of the game is in serious question. I think most football enthusiasts will agree with France Football regarding this one. Another example of FIFA's laughable rating systems.
They aren't the "word of football journalists", they are the journalists that the magazine France Football have around the world. Golden Ball 1. Nedved (Juventus, RCH) 190 2. Henry (Arsenal, FRA) 128 3. Maldini (Milan, ITA) 123 4. Shevchenko (Milan, UCR) 67 5. Zidane (Real Madrid, FRA) 64 6. Van Nistelrooy (Man.United, HOL) 61 7. Raul (Real Madrid, ESP) 32 8. Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid, BRA) 27 9. Buffon (Juventus, ITA) 19 10.Beckham (Real Madrid, ING) 17 11.Ronaldo (Real Madrid, BRA) 11 12.Larsson (Celtic Glasgow, SUE) 6 13.Deco (Porto, POR) 4 14.Del Piero (Juventus, ITA) 4 15.Dida (Milan, BRA) 4 FIFA WORLD PLAYER 1. ZINEDINE ZIDANE (REAL MADRID) 264 pts 2. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 186 3. RONALDO (REAL MADRID) 176 4. Pavel Nedved (Juventus) 158 5. ROBERTO CARLOS (REAL MADRID) 105 6. Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Manchester U) 86 7. DAVID BECKHAM (REAL MADRID) 74 8. RAUL (REAL MADRID) 39 9. Paolo Maldini (AC Milan) 37 10. Andrei Shevchenko (AC Milan) 26 11. LUIS FIGO (REAL MADRID) 17 12. Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich) 15 13. Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich) 13 14. PABLO AIMAR (VALENCIA) 9 15. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) 8 As you can't see 11 of the 15 players of FWP are in the Golden Ball top 15. Not too many difference. But let go to analyze the players that are only in one list: FWP not in GB Luis Figo Michael Ballack Oliver Kahn Pablo Aimar GB not in FWP Larsson Dida Del Piero Deco Well, i think that the 99% of the managers of every single team in the world, and almost all the soccer supporters would have chosen the players of the first list (FWP - Figo, Ballack, Kahn and Aimar). One very big point for FWP. And Ronaldo 11 position in Golden Ball!!!! Every human being with more than one neuron knows that Ronaldon isn't the 11 player in the world. it is simply incredible. They must be totally drunk or totally crazy when they voted. Ronaldo is a clear candidate to be the best player in the world, or at least in the top 3-5. He has scored 42 goals in 2003 last year with Real MAdrid and Brazil winning la liga, CL semifinal, He is the top scorer of la liga this year. I repeat, a total nonsense. But the worse is that at the same time they put Shevchenko in the fouth position. Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy and Raul are much better forwards than Shevchenko. As the great forward of Roma TOTTI said this week "Nedved didn't deserve to win the Golden ball. There are other players with more talent that offer something special to the supporters... i 'm convinced that Nedved played very well, but there are other players with more talent." http://www.as.com/articulo.html?xref=20031223dasdasftb_10&type=Tes&anchor=dasftb&d_date=20031223 Golden Balls throphy is losing all its prestige since that in the last 12-13 years, it has the competence of the FWP. This year is a clear example of that, the year 2000 when they chose Owen as best player in the world was also very very funny.
MadridForever, why don't you just drop this issue? Now I'm forced to reply to all your idiotic ramblings again. But they are journalists. France Football is the most respected international football magazine in the world because it has journalists from all around the world contributing to it. And we should not forget the fans also voted for Nedved in the 'World Soccer' award. FIFA World Player of the Year: Figo: had a bad year for his standards. He was nothing special. Ballack: took him awhile to adjust to Bayern. He was better the year before. Kahn:C'mon, he had the worst year of his career last year. Aimar: Aimar was good but not world player of the year good. He couldn't even lead Valencia to the CL. Now Balon d'Or: Larrson: he was good for Celtic in leading them the UEFA Cup and Scottish title. Dida: he was fantastic, only Buffon was better. Del Piero: he was too inconsistent to get any votes. Deco: he was superb last year for Porto. IMO, the Balon d'Or got it more right than the FIFA award. You will also notice that Rivaldo, Morientes, or Freier didn't recieve any votes in the Balon d'Or Ronaldo finshing 11th is about the same as him finishing 4th. After the first 3 positions the rest are meaningless. As for Sheva, yes you are right he didn't deserve the award(which he didn't get) because he was injured for alot of the year and didn't start playing well until the later rounds of the CL. Which reminds me of how Ronaldo won the FIFA player of the year, Balon d'Or, and World Soccer awards in 2002. He did nothing with Inter for the majority of the year but played well in the WC with Brazil. Do you see any similarities with Sheva 2003 and Ronaldo 2002? If you are not a hypocrite you will admit Ronaldo didn't deserve the awards in 2002. But I doubt you will. As for Sheva not being as good as RVN, Raul, and Ronaldo, I will have to disagree there. IMO, Sheva is the best striker in the world. But he was not the best striker last year. Henry was, not Ronaldo. You love quoting other peoples words to support your opinions. I guess your not confident that your views are good enough by themselves. Totti is just pissed off he didn't get any recognition last year in the awards. Every year he goes on the same opine about the awards. He has this wierd fixation with winning those awards. It also doesn't help that a Juve player won the award(Roma hate Juve) I remember Platini saying Totti was better than Zidane. Do you agree with him? Your right, Balon d'Or is losing prestige. But at least it had some prestige to begin with. The FIFA award never had prestige to begin with and never will as long as the coaches get to vote. Please MadridForever quit now. The majority of the people on these boards and around the world agree that Nedved was the best player last year. You are fighting a losing battle. Give it up.
MadridForever, why don't you just drop this issue? Now I'm forced to reply to all your idiotic ramblings again. Thank you for your flattery. it means that i am in the good way. Seeing your soccer taste, I would be very very worried if you had say something positive about my post. But they are journalists. France Football is the most respected international football magazine in the world because it has journalists from all around the world contributing to it. And we should not forget the fans also voted for Nedved in the 'World Soccer' award. "Hello Spartak. Knock,Knock ,Knock, is anybody Home?" Yeah, they are journalist ........ and they work for France Football magazine!!!!. Now you can reply again "yeah, but they are journalists". And we should not forget that FIFA NT managers, Frank Beckenbauer , Totti, Onze mundial readers, Ryan Gibbs, Henry or Roberto Carlos have said that Zidane is the best player in the world or that Nedved didn't deserve to win the GB. Yeah, i know that they are idiots and they don't know anything about soccer!! https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=87287&perpage=15&pagenumber=3 FIFA World Player of the Year: Figo: had a bad year for his standards. He was nothing special. Ballack: took him awhile to adjust to Bayern. He was better the year before. Kahn:C'mon, he had the worst year of his career last year. Aimar: Aimar was good but not world player of the year good. He couldn't even lead Valencia to the CL. Now Balon d'Or: Larrson: he was good for Celtic in leading them the UEFA Cup and Scottish title. Dida: he was fantastic, only Buffon was better. Del Piero: he was too inconsistent to get any votes. Deco: he was superb last year for Porto. IMO, the Balon d'Or got it more right than the FIFA award. You will also notice that Rivaldo, Morientes, or Freier didn't recieve any votes in the Balon d'Or Now, i have to read that Larrson is one of the best players in the world. Yeah, Celtic won the UEFA cup, a competition that plays the teams classified between the 5-8 position in the most important leagues, and the teams that falls in the first round of Champions league. And Celtic also won the Scottish league throphy, we all know that the scottist league is the most important league in the world (i must say that they have the best supporters).Excuse me for my advice, but you have a serious problems. Dida, another joke. For example, Buffon, Toldo, Casillas and Kahn are much better goalkeepers that Dida by a very very very long distance. Del Piero, well, i think that you had a little moment of lucidity. I still have hope in your recovery. Deco, He is a very good player, but he isn't playing in a top league. We will see the next year if he play in Spain, England, Germany, France or even Italy. There isn't possible comparision between Figo, Ballack, Kahn and Aimar and Larrson, Deco, Dida and Del Piero. I repeat the 99% of the managers and supporters would choose the first 4. Ronaldo finshing 11th is about the same as him finishing 4th. After the first 3 positions the rest are meaningless. As for Sheva, yes you are right he didn't deserve the award(which he didn't get) because he was injured for alot of the year and didn't start playing well until the later rounds of the CL. Which reminds me of how Ronaldo won the FIFA player of the year, Balon d'Or, and World Soccer awards in 2002. He did nothing with Inter for the majority of the year but played well in the WC with Brazil. Do you see any similarities with Sheva 2003 and Ronaldo 2002? If you are not a hypocrite you will admit Ronaldo didn't deserve the awards in 2002. But I doubt you will. As for Sheva not being as good as RVN, Raul, and Ronaldo, I will have to disagree there. IMO, Sheva is the best striker in the world. But he was not the best striker last year. Henry was, not Ronaldo. Forget what i said above about your posibilities of recovery. There isn't diference between the 11th and 4th positions. Great argument. I think that you missed some very importand classes in the elementary school, or some sesame street episodes. Ronaldo won the World Cup, a little tournament without any importance, and he was the top scorer!!!!. He won the intercontinental cup, scoring one of the goals, YEAH, the same throphy that Milan lost a few weeks ago with Sheva. You are comparing that with what Sheva has made this year......23 goals!!! A total joke. Ronaldo, VNR and Henry have scored more than 40!!!, and Raul more than 30!!. Yeah, but Sheva helped with his goals to goals to win the CL,....Oh,my god!! I cab't believe it!!!He isn't between the top 25 scorers of the CL 2002-03. http://euro.futbal.org/EC1.scorers.php I repeat the France football journalists must be drunk when they voted. You love quoting other peoples words to support your opinions. I guess your not confident that your views are good enough by themselves. Totti is just pissed off he didn't get any recognition last year in the awards. Every year he goes on the same opine about the awards. He has this wierd fixation with winning those awards. It also doesn't help that a Juve player won the award(Roma hate Juve) I remember Platini saying Totti was better than Zidane. Do you agree with him? No, i have the bad habit/custom to put links that support what i'm saying, I don't say ".... I remember Platini saying Totti was better than Zidane..... " without put a link. Sorry, I will answer you when you put the link. Your right, Balon d'Or is losing prestige. But at least it had some prestige to begin with. The FIFA award never had prestige to begin with and never will as long as the coaches get to vote. Please MadridForever quit now. The majority of the people on these boards and around the world agree that Nedved was the best player last year. You are fighting a losing battle. Give it up. Yeah, it's a total joke that the SOCCER MANAGERS vote to choose the best SOCCER players. I think that must have voted the Basketball managers, or maybe the Badminton managers. About quit now. Ummm,........ I think that i will pass. I like to "represent" that "minority" that thinks that Zidane, Ronaldo, VNR, Henry,.... are/were better than Nedved.... And Shevchenko!!!!
MadridForever, why I bother posting to your threads is beyond me, but its only for your complete BIASNESS that I keep on responding... So I am going to play at your level, so to speak. Now I know you love your team, Real Madrid, more than anything. So even you should be able to admit that when it comes to two players on the same team (ie. Raul vs Ronaldo) that play different styles but are still great, are you so quickly to point out that "one is better than the other"??? Of course not. Raul is noted for his consistency, his workrate, his hunger to lead his club, and to score goals for Real out of nothing. Ronaldo is the consumate striker that works best on the counterattack and his finishing. But don't ask him to hustle, fight, defend or be a reliable assist man. Is one better than the other? No. They have different games. Each one important. But I know Merengues...they think Raul is more important, and I arguably agree so. Now I know Madrid well having lived there, and I know the fans even better. Raul, to them, has been jipped from winning the top awards year in and year out. In fact, when Ronaldo won the awards for 2002, the Bernebeau was booing him and was chanting Raul's name. Do you deny this? Is what I'm saying untrue? (hell...knowing you, you were probably at that game). My point is this....you have an opinion, and so do others. That you are the only one on these boards that seems to think Nedved is so underserving of a player to win this award, well... that is your opinion, and so be it. But it is you that fails to realize that awards should be based on how you play THAT ONE ENTIRE YEAR, not in one tournament, or one game....and definately not on what you have amassed in your career. THAT is what angers some people that Ronaldo won in 2002, that Owen won in 2001, and that Zidane, for all a great player that he is, won this year's Fifa award. There's a difference in asking who the best player in the world is (hands down Zizou for the last 5 years IMHO) and which players had exceptional seasons for both club AND country. AND THAT, my friend, is why Nedved deserved the Golden Ball Award. You can cry all you want, but it won't do you any good. HE BEAT your team in the Semis of the Champions League. You can postulate and pontificate all you want(if this and if that), but fact is fact- Nedved helped eliminate your team. He helped Juve cruise through everyone in Italy for their second consecutive Scudetto. AND he was instrumental in helping the Czech Republic get through their Euro Qualifying stage (ohh sorry...i forgot that Zizou's and Henry's France team had to play superpowers like Israel and Malta). But to think that we here on this thread don't know what we are talking about strikes as ignorant, snobby, and downright assinine. But who are we to be talking, to share your vast intellect and knowledge of the game (that's sarcasm if you can't understand). p.s. Oh...and by the way.... over the last couple years, Nedved and Shevchenko have constantly been linked to moves to your beloved Real Madrid. I read Marca too. Don't tell me that you missed those articles, even when they were right there on the cover!?!
Originally posted by paulocesar THAT is what angers some people that Ronaldo won in 2002, that Owen won in 2001, and that Zidane, for all a great player that he is, won this year's Fifa award. Winning the world cup tourney is the ultimate and its duration should not be used as a reason to deprive it of its deserved status in football. Ronaldo's contribution to Brasil winning the cup represents one of the most epochal moments in the history of sports.he deserved everything he won in 2002 including the subsequent awards! There's a difference in asking who the best player in the world is (hands down Zizou for the last 5 years IMHO) and which players had exceptional seasons for both club AND country. Agree..Nedved probably deserved the Balon d 'OR and may be the Fifa award too.But it amazes me that Alex of Cruzeiro and Brasil was not among the top contenders in the eyes of those that voted Zidane. How Ronaldo was placed 11th in the France Football vote is hard to fathom too!Should have been in the top 3 or 4 for goodness sake!He won the league almost singlehandedly for Real in a year in which his physical shape was not up to scratch.His contribution to Real's charge to league honours and semi of CL was near phenomenal.This has been ably stated by MadridForever.He demonstrated his worth over a sustained period and anyone who does not recognise this is a hard-headed casuist!