The Malta Independent’s Sports Editor Henry Brincat will be representing Malta at next Thursday’s inaugural UEFA Best Player in Europe Award ceremony in Monaco.
UEFA has invited 53 members of the press from around Europe – one from every member association - to vote for the Best Player of season 2010/2011.
This is the inaugural edition and UEFA has combined with European Sports Media (ESM) in organising the event.
A preliminary voting session has already been made following which, the 53 members of the jury selected Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Cristiano Ronaldo as the three finalists.
The award is based on an initiative of the UEFA President, Michel Platini, aimed at reviving the spirit of the old European Footballer of the Year award. The award aims to recognise the best player, irrespective of his nationality, who has played for a football club within the territory of a UEFA member national association during the season to which the award relates. Players were judged for their performance during the 2010/11 season in all competitions, both domestically and internationally, at either club or national team level.
The jury is composed of 53 renowned sports journalists representing each of the UEFA member national associations. Firstly, each journalist provided a list of three best ranked players from one to three, the first one receiving five points, the second three points and the third one point.
The three players who received the most aggregate points in the first round of voting – Xavi, Messi (both of Barcelona) and Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - were shortlisted for the final round of voting next Thursday. The journalists will now be voting live, via an electronic voting system, during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw, to determine the winner among the three nominees.
Another member of the Catalan giants’ UEFA Champions League-winning side, Andrés Iniesta, just missed out after finishing fourth ahead of Falcao and Wayne Rooney.
Xavi and Messi helped Barcelona to Liga and European glory, the latter scoring 53 goals in 55 club appearances, including 31 in the Spanish top flight and a record-equalling 12 in the UEFA Champions League.
Yet it was Ronaldo who picked up the ESM Golden Shoe, registering an incredible 40 Liga goals for second-placed Madrid.
Positions four to ten are already known after the first voting round. They finished as follows:
4 Andrés Iniesta (ESP) – Barcelona (33 points)
5 Falcao (COL) – Porto (17)
6 Wayne Rooney (ENG) – Manchester United (15)
7 Nemanja Vidić (SRB) – Manchester United (5)
8 Zlatan Ibrahimović (SWE) – Milan (4); Gerard Piqué (ESP) –Barcelona (4)
10 Manuel Neuer (GER) – Schalke 04* (3)
* has since joined FC Bayern Munich
The award replaces that for the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, claimed last year by Inter’s Diego Milito. Ronaldo (2008) and Messi (2009) are past winners.