Another accolade beckons for World Cup winner Manuel Neuer. Bayern Munich and Germany’s goalkeeper is one of three final nominees for UEFA’s Best Player in Europe 2014. A win would mean following in the footsteps of club team-mate Franck Ribéry, who received the award in 2013 for his part in Munich’s treble-winning triumph.
The 28-year-old is joined by fellow Bayern star Arjen Robben, 30, and 2013 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, 29, on a shortlist announced by European football’s governing body on Thursday. The winner will be selected in Monaco on 28 August as part of the draw for the group stages of this season’s Champions League.
“This is wonderful news for both players but also for everyone at FC Bayern. We can already be proud regardless of the outcome of the vote,” Bayern’s executive board chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told fcb.de. Rummenigge believes both Neuer and Robben “more than deserve” the accolade: “They’ve been outstanding for Bayern in recent years and left their mark on the World Cup in Brazil.”
Müller and Lahm right behind the top three
Neuer, who has already been named Germany’s Footballer of the Year, would be the first goalkeeper to be named Europe’s leading player since Russia’s Lev Yashin in 1963. Previous German recipients of the award include Matthias Sammer in 1996, Lothar Matthäus in 1990, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1980 and 1981, Franz Beckenbauer in 1972 and 1976 and Gerd Müller in 1970. Neuer is the first goalkeeper to make the three-man shortlist since the vote took on its current form in 2011, with Barcelona’s Andrés Iniesta (2012) and Lionel Messi (2011) winning the award in the two years before Ribéry.
Neuer, Robben and Ronaldo garnered the most votes from a panel of 54 journalists in a preliminary poll between ten candidates. Two more of Bayern’s world champions, Thomas Müller and Philipp Lahm, placed fourth and fifth respectively, with Lahm tying Messi for fifth position. James Rodríguez (Real Madrid), Luis Suárez (Barcelona), Ángel Di María (Real Madrid) and Diego Costa (Chelsea) completed the top ten.
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Another accolade beckons for World Cup winner Manuel Neuer. Bayern Munich and Germany’s goalkeeper is one of three final nominees for UEFA’s Best Player in Europe 2014. A win would mean following in the footsteps of club team-mate Franck Ribéry, who received the award in 2013 for his part in Munich’s treble-winning triumph.
The 28-year-old is joined by fellow Bayern star Arjen Robben, 30, and 2013 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, 29, on a shortlist announced by European football’s governing body on Thursday. The winner will be selected in Monaco on 28 August as part of the draw for the group stages of this season’s Champions League.
“This is wonderful news for both players but also for everyone at FC Bayern. We can already be proud regardless of the outcome of the vote,” Bayern’s executive board chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told fcb.de. Rummenigge believes both Neuer and Robben “more than deserve” the accolade: “They’ve been outstanding for Bayern in recent years and left their mark on the World Cup in Brazil.”
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Müller and Lahm right behind the top three
Neuer, who has already been named Germany’s Footballer of the Year, would be the first goalkeeper to be named Europe’s leading player since Russia’s Lev Yashin in 1963. Previous German recipients of the award include Matthias Sammer in 1996, Lothar Matthäus in 1990, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1980 and 1981, Franz Beckenbauer in 1972 and 1976 and Gerd Müller in 1970. Neuer is the first goalkeeper to make the three-man shortlist since the vote took on its current form in 2011, with Barcelona’s Andrés Iniesta (2012) and Lionel Messi (2011) winning the award in the two years before Ribéry.
Neuer, Robben and Ronaldo garnered the most votes from a panel of 54 journalists in a preliminary poll between ten candidates. Two more of Bayern’s world champions, Thomas Müller and Philipp Lahm, placed fourth and fifth respectively, with Lahm tying Messi for fifth position. James Rodríguez (Real Madrid), Luis Suárez (Barcelona), Ángel Di María (Real Madrid) and Diego Costa (Chelsea) completed the top ten.
