Zidane Wins The Vote

[Red Devil]

Zinedine Zidane has been awarded the Fifa Player of the Year award for 2003, pipping Thierry Henry and Ronaldo to the coveted prize. The Frenchman has been rewarded for another impressive season for Real Madrid, as he helped the Spanish giants lift the Primera Liga title. Clearly one of the most naturally gifted footballers on the planet, there will be few who would begrudge the plaudits going to Zidane, even though this is the third time he has won the trophy.

The 31-year-old was previously successful in 1998 and 2000, and saw off competition from Arsenal attacker Henry and Real team-mate Ronaldo to complete a remarkable hat-trick. Ronaldo was the victor last year, with his exceptional World Cup exploits convincing the judges to back the Brazilian. The voting was conducted by 142 national team coaches, with Zidane eventually coming out on top by a considerable margin.


1. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) 264
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 (Man United) 86
7. David Beckham (Real Madrid) 74
8. Raul (Real Madrid) 39
9. Paolo Maldini (Milan) 37
10.Andrei Shevchenko (Milan) 26

[The_Big_Easy]

I think either Ronaldo or Nedved should have got it. Zidane hasnt done anything special this year he has just been himself (which is still great).

[TedNolan]

nedved should have gotten it. Or maldini, as a sign of great carrer achievments.

[diavolo]

[

1. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) 264
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 (Man United) 86
7. David Beckham (Real Madrid) 74
8. Raul (Real Madrid) 39
9. Paolo Maldini (Milan) 37
10.Andrei Shevchenko (Milan) 26[/QUOTE]

Don't want to argue on who should have won it, everybody has their own preference, the only player that makes me feel that this award is not serious is Beckham in 7th position for this years achievements, he may well deserve maybe next year to be up their but this year is an insult

[Boovy]

But what did Henry do? really?

The FA cup, no league or european trophy

No, premier league golden boot or Euro cup golden boot....because RvN won them both

[Red Devil]

10.Andrei Shevchenko (Milan) 26
8. Raul (Real Madrid) 39
6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man United) 86
9. Paolo Maldini (Milan) 37
3. Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 176
1. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) 264
5. Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid) 105
2. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 186
4. Pavel Nedved (Juventus) 158
7. David Beckham (Real Madrid) 74

Bearing in mind last season's performances, this season isn't even half way yet, this would have been my top 10, out of the 10 finalists.

[JC_The_Atheist]

Shevchenko had a bad year,how could u put him top. Been on blinding form start of this season but wasn't the greatest last season.

Nedved no question at number one,how can anyone who knows anything about football dispute that. Got to go with winners aswell which means Henry shouldn't be in the top 3. Raul was a bit inconsistant while Roberto Carlos was extremely consistant and when will people get off Van Nistelrooy's back. Best centre forward in the world in my opinion now.

1 Nedved
2 Van Nistelrooy
3 Roberto Carlos

[Celticrugby]

I would have said Nedved and Ruud were my first choices for the prize.

[Red Devil]

Sorry, think that was a typo, Sch should have been third!!

8. Raul (Real Madrid) 39
6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man United) 86
10.Andrei Shevchenko (Milan) 26
9. Paolo Maldini (Milan) 37
3. Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 176
1. Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) 264
5. Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid) 105
2. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 186
4. Pavel Nedved (Juventus) 158
7. David Beckham (Real Madrid) 74

Bearing in mind last season's performances, this season isn't even half way yet, this would have been my top 10, out of the 10 finalists. Bear in mind, its only my opinion.

[diavolo]

Shevchenko had a bad year,how could u put him top. Been on blinding form start of this season but wasn't the greatest last season.

Nedved no question at number one,how can anyone who knows anything about football dispute that. Got to go with winners aswell which means Henry shouldn't be in the top 3. Raul was a bit inconsistant while Roberto Carlos was extremely consistant and when will people get off Van Nistelrooy's back. Best centre forward in the world in my opinion now.

1 Nedved
2 Van Nistelrooy
3 Roberto Carlos

I will not argue on who deserved winning, for me Beckham should not be in the top 10, Sheva was injured at the beginning of the year (cause the award is for the year 2003) now he is playing well, Nedved in the last 2/3 months is not the player of 6/7 months ago.

[swissknife]

Zidane has played in 2003 like he always did. Nedved on the other hand surpassed himself, he jumped to another level. That's why he should have won this.

[Fins Prompte]

Should have been Nedved. Based on these last few winners announced, I will keep with the golden ball as the proper award and this as meaningful as a poor excuse to glorfy its stars and make them bigger stars.

[Mark]

May as well just give the award to Perez and he can choose his favourite player of that year an give it to them. I say this because Madrid are obviously the best team in Europe, and win the Champions League every year no questions...err hang on...

[Killah]

May as well just give the award to Perez and he can choose his favourite player of that year an give it to them. I say this because Madrid are obviously the best team in Europe, and win the Champions League every year no questions...err hang on...

lol, sounds like a good idea

Nedved has been the best player in 2003 easily

[Zizou]

I love Zidane, but last year he did nothing out of the ordinary. Actually he did nothing where it mattered (CL semis).

Nedved was consistent all throughout the season and he really was great.

Real Madrid - Come on, even you should be able to admit that neither Ronaldo nor Zidane deserved a top 3 placing ;) Nedved did not really improve, he always runs like a maniac, has always been like that. But the fact that he joined Juventus his qualities have been highligted more than when he was with Lazio, which is quite normal for players when joing a big team.

RD - How come you ranked Nedved so low? Guess you didn`t see too many Juve matches last season :D

[Fins Prompte]

Nedved's first season at juve was a slow transition but man come second season there, he blew up in an amazing manner.

[Killah]

RD - How come you ranked Nedved so low? Guess you didn`t see too many Juve matches last season :D

He's also got Raul in first :ph34r:

[Mark]

you and your stupid ******* commentskeep the bad language to yourself, there might be children viewing this post who do not want to see such words

[mc Andy Roddick]

I can agree that Zidane wasnt the most deserving player..

But I cant agree with the follow arguments


I love Zidane, but last year he did nothing out of the ordinary. Actually he did nothing where it mattered (CL semis).


Man.. You cant judge this award on 2 or 3 games. Stop with this CL semifinal proved that Juve is better than Real, Nedved is the best player in the world, and stuff.. it was just a match. Real lost to Juve just like they lost to Mallorca 5-1 last year.

But what did Henry do? really?

The FA cup, no league or european trophy

No, premier league golden boot or Euro cup golden boot....because RvN won them both

No player wins titles alone. This is an individual award. If a player plays in Murcia, and he is so good that he can lift Murcia to La Liga 2nd place and Champions League semifinals, maybe he is the best player in the world although he didnt win any titles. Thierry makes Arsenal 10 times better than they are, no matter how many titles they won.

[Foley87]

zidane is the worlds best

this year he hasnt been the ebst tho

henry is currently on form the worlds best and thats how the award should be awarded

so henry shud of got it

[diavolo]

No player wins titles alone. This is an individual award. If a player plays in Murcia, and he is so good that he can lift Murcia to La Liga 2nd place and Champions League semifinals, maybe he is the best player in the world although he didnt win any titles. Thierry makes Arsenal 10 times better than they are, no matter how many titles they won.

I agree, even though in the past they have usually crowned a player from a winning club or national taem, I personally don't care that much, I prefer that my team won the CL, but since their is a thread on the subject, I would like to quote what Milan's trainer Carlo Ancelotti said to journalists today "Sorry, I'm not going to answer to your questions today cause I have to run back to AC Milan's headquaters and check if we still have last years CL Cup"

[Zizou]

Mc Andy it's not about just one game, as Nedved was consistent all throughout last season. However the best players are always step up in the important games and it's there where you divide the kids from the men.

As Foley said, Zidane is the best player in the world, but last year he wasn`t the most in form player of the year so obviously he did not deserve the award.

[Boovy]

zidane is the worlds best

this year he hasnt been the ebst tho

henry is currently on form the worlds best and thats how the award should be awarded

so henry shud of got it

on the same note its an award for 2003, not the past 3 weeks

[diavolo]

on the same note its an award for 2003, not the past 3 weeks

Totally agree with Boovy

[Foley87]

but hes been class all season