Cristiano Ronaldo is World Soccer’s World Player of the Year for the second year running after a brilliant 12 months for Real Madrid, who won their 10th European Cup in May, with the Portuguese forward scoring in the 4-1 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Final in Lisbon.
Ronaldo, who won the award in 2008 while playing for Manchester United, saw off competition from several of Germany’s victorious World Cup side, as well as his La Liga rival, Argentina star Lionel Messi, who finished in third place.
Four members of Germany’s national side – goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (2nd), forward Thomas Muller (5th), captain Philipp Lahm (6th) and midfielder Toni Kroos (10th) – finished in the top 10 in our annual poll, which is now in its 32nd year.
There was also recognition for Arjen Robben (4th), the star of the Holland side that finished third at the World Cup;, Colombian starlet James Rodriguez (7th), former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez (8th) and Argentina winger Angel Di Maria (9th).
Germany, not surprisingly, claimed the World Team of the Year award, after their victory over Argentina in the World Cup Final and an extraordinary 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the semi-final. Their coach Joachim Low is World Manager of the Year, finishing ahead of Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid.
The awards were decided by votes from a panel of more than 100 journalists and pundits from around the globe. Members of the panel chose their top 10 players of the year, with points (ranging from one to 10) awarded to each selection.
WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2014
1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid & Portugal 928 points
2 Manuel Neuer
Bayern Munich & Germany 789
3 Lionel Messi
Barcelona & Argentina 593
4 Arjen Robben
Bayern Munich & Holland 458
5 Thomas Muller
Bayern Munich & Germany 354
6 Philipp Lahm
Bayern Munich & Germany 264
7 James Rodriguez
Monaco/Real Madrid & Colombia 243
8 Luis Suarez
Liverpool/Barcelona & Uruguay 218
9 Angel Di Maria
Real Madrid/Manchester United & Argentina 183
10 Toni Kroos
Bayern Munich/Real Madrid & Germany 168
11 Neymar
Barcelona & Brazil 166
12 Diego Costa
Atletico Madrid/Chelsea & Spain 146
13 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Paris Saint-Germain & Sweden 138
14 Sergio Aguero
Manchester City & Spain 79
15 Gareth Bale
Real Madrid & Wales 78
16 Sergio Ramos
Real Madrid & Spain 69
17 Bastian Schweinsteiger
Bayern Munich & Germany 61
18 Yaya Toure
Manchester City & Ivory Coast 56
19 Javier Mascherano
Barcelona & Argentina 39
20 Diego Godin
Atletico Madrid & Uruguay 35
21= Thibaut Courtois
Atletico Madrid/Chelsea & Belgium 33
21= Eden Hazard
Chelsea & Belgium 33
23 Mario Gotze
Bayern Munich & Germany 32
24 Karim Benzema
Real Madrid & France 29
25 Alexis Sanchez
Barcelona/Arsenal & Chile 28
26 Franck Ribery
Bayern Munich & France 26
27 Andres Iniesta
Barcelona & Spain 25
28 Paul Pogba
Juventus & France 19
29 Luka Modric
Real Madrid & Croatia 17
30= Vincent Kompany
Manchester City & Belgium 14
30= Carlos Tevez
Juventus & Argentina 14
32 Xabi Alonso
Real Madrid/Bayern Munich & Spain 12
33= Mats Hummels
Borussia Dortmund & Germany 11
33= Andrea Pirlo
Juventus & Italy 11
35 Koke
Atletico Madrid & Spain 10
36 Arda Turan
Atletico Madrid & Turkey 9
37= Robert Lewandowski
Borussia Dortmund/Bayern Munich & Poland 7
37= Pablo Zabaleta
Manchester City & Argentina 7
39= Vincent Enyeama
Lille & Nigeria 6
39= Hector Herrea
Porto & Mexico 6
41= Wayne Rooney
Manchester United & England 5
41= Xavi Hernandez
Barcelona & Spain 5
43= Giancaarlo Gonzalez
Columbus Crew/Palermo & Costa Rica 4
43= Mesut Ozil
Arsenal & Germany 4
43= Thiago Silva
Paris Saint-Germain & Brazil 4
43= Andriy Yarmolenko
Dynamo Kiev & Ukraine 4
47= Ali Ashfaq
PDRM (Mly) & Maldives 3
47= Cesc Fabregas
Barcelona/Chelsea & Spain 3
47= Ivan Rakitic
Sevilla/Barcelona & Croatia 3
47= Raphael Varane
Real Madrid & France 3
47= Daniel Sturridge
Liverpoool & England 3
47= Robin Van Persie
Manchester United & Holland 3
53= Yacine Brahimi
Porto & Algeria 2
53= Luciano Figueroa
Johor Darul Takzim (Mly) 2
53= Keylor Navas
Levante/Real Madrid & Costa Rica 2
53= Arturo Vidal
Juventus & Chile 2
57= David Alaba
Bayern Munich & Austria 1
57= Seamus Coleman
Everton & Republic of Ireland 1
57= Marco Reus
Borussia Dortmund & Germany 1
57= Raheem Sterling
Liverpool & England 1
WORLD MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2014
1 Joachim Low
Germany 45 points
2 Diego Simeone
Atletico Madrid 33
3 Carlo Ancelotti
Real Madrid 15
4 Louis Van Gaal
Holland/Manchester Utd 5
5 Pep Guardiola
Bayern Munich 3
6= Tony Popovic
Western Sydney Wanderers 1
6= Jose Luis Pinto
Costa Rica 1
WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR 2014
World Cup winners Germany are keen to host the 2024 European Championsships.
1 Germany 65 points
2 Real Madrid 23
3 Atletico Madrid 11
4= Bayern Munich 1
4= Colombia 1
4= Costa Rica 1
4= Western Sydney Wanderers 1
