Ricardo Kakà 22 |
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| IFFHS has carried out the annual voting for The World‘s best Playmaker for 2007 which concluded with a clear victory for the Brazilian Kaká, as the successor to Zinédine Zidane, who was voted as the first World‘s best Playmaker in 2006. The 25-year-old player from AC Milan, who was already voted as "FIFA World Player 2007", was placed as first 49 time from the selected sport offices and experts in 87 countries of all continents.
His 28-year-old club team mate Andrea Pirlo takes second place; the Italian was third in 2006. In third place for 2007 is the 20-year-old Argentinian young star Lionel Messi of "Barça", who relegated his countryman Juan Ramón Riquelme and both 27-year-old Ronaldinho and Steven Gerrard to the lower places. "Cesc" Fabregas (aged 20), Cristiano Ronaldo (22), Diego (22) and Robinho (23) were the other young players to feature in the "Top 10".
The 23 World‘s best Playmakers cover 12 different nationalities. Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands are each represented twice, England three times and Brazil five times. Remarkably, there are all five Brazilians among the "Top 11". The 23 best playmakers in the world currently play for clubs in only 8 countries - three of these in Germany, four in Italy, five in Spain and seven are with English clubs, and only two outside from Europe.
Milan, "Barça" and the "Gunners" from London are each represented with three playmakers and "ManU" with two. The trend is clear, teams with two or three playmakers in the line-up play a more creative, better and more successful football – and these teams are not so easy to counter tactically.
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