Archive for October 24th, 2006

European Player of the Year

Henry Leads The Way In Race For The “Ballon d’Or”

Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry is the 6/4 favourite with Sportingodds.com for the 2006 European Player of the Year Award. French magazine France Football awards the “Ballon d’Or” for the best European Footballer of the calendar year. 

Italian players feature strongly in the betting after their heroics in Germany during this year’s World Cup. Fabio Cannavaro is priced at 100/30, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon at 20/1 and Andrea Pirlo at 25/1. 

Champions League holders Barcelona also have a number of players featuring prominently in the list. Last year’s winner Ronaldinho is available at 4/1, striker Samuel Eto’o at 6/1 and defender Carles Puyol at 16/1. 

A journalist from each UEFA participating European country will vote for their top five players from a current shortlist of 50. The player with the most votes will be declared the winner in mid-December. 

  • This year will be the 51st presentation of the award
  • Juventus are the club with most players honoured (8).
  • Germany and Holland are the countries with most players honoured (7 each).
  • Lev Yashin in 1963 was the only goalkeeper to ever win the award.
  • 3 players have won the award 3 times – Johan Cruyff, Marco Van Basten and Michel Platini.
  • Before 1995 only European born players were eligible for the award.
  • George Weah was the first non-European recipient of the award in 1995.

Sportingodds.com Selected Prices:
Thierry Henry 6/4, Fabio Cannavaro 100/30, Ronaldinho 4/1, Samuel Eto’o 6/1, Carles Puyol 16/1, Miroslav Klose 18/1, Gianluigi Buffon 20/1, Andrea Pirlo 25/1, Deco 28/1, Franck Ribery 28/1, Steven Gerrard 28/1, Zinedine Zidane 28/1, Genaro Gattuso 40/1, Didier Drogba 40/1, Gianluca Zambrotta 40/1, Kaka 40/1, Luca Toni 40/1, Fabio Grosso 50/1.

See SportingOdds.com site for more. 

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