Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted player of the year by his fellow professionals at FIFPro.
The international players’ union, which has 57,500 members, announced on Monday that the Manchester United winger, who scored 42 goals last season when the Red Devils won both the Champions League and Premier League, had topped their poll.
“To be recognised by my fellow professional players worldwide coming from over 50,000 players is amazing,” the Portugal winger said.
Ronaldo is also a strong contender to win the FIFA award and the European Golden Ball organised by the French magazine France Football.
“I would like to thank my teammates and coaches and everyone involved at Man United and the national team, as well as my family and friends for their support,” Ronaldo said. “Thank you also to FIFPro for this award and for your work in protecting the interests and welfare of players around the world.”
Five of the Spanish stars who won the 2008 European Championship were named in FIFPro’s team-of-the-year lineup.
With all but one of the players coming from either the Spanish or English leagues, the lineup includes Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, Barcelona’s Carles Puyol and Xavi Fernandez and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres.
Barcelona’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi is also in the team and Champions League winner Manchester United has Rio Ferdinand and Ronaldo.
Liverpool also has Steven Gerrard, John Terry is the only Chelsea player on the lineup and AC Milan’s Kaka is the lone star from Italy’s Serie A.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The challenge in the box left Anthony Gordon with a ripped sock and a sore ankle, but VAR deemed it not worthy of a…
Former Premier League striker turned pundit Michael Bridges has launched a staggering attack on Manchester United manager Eric ten Hag in the wake of…
Leandro Trossard scored the only goal after 20 minutes, to keep the pressure on Manchester City.
A referee wore a camera for the first time in an English Premier League match as Crystal Palace beat up Manchester United 4-0. Footage…
Manchester United have survived one of the most astonishing FA Cup semi-final comebacks to beat second-tier Coventry City 4-2 on penalties after a chaotic…
Erik ten Hag hopes Manchester United's nail-biting last-eight win over arch-rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup can prove the turning point in a challenging…
