Photo Credit: World Soccer
World Soccer magazine have announced their 2012 team of the year, with Leo Messi being named World player of the year, Spain winning team of the year and their coach, Vicente Del Bosque, winning the World manager of the year award.
The World XI includes 8 players from La Liga, with Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao the only player from outside the real Madrid and Barcelona duopoly. There is one player from each of Italy’s Serie A, The English Premier League and the German Bundesliga- Andrea Pirlo of Juventus, Vincent Kompany of Manchester City and Philip Lahm of Bayern Munich.
The awards are voted on by football journalists and administrators from around the world, along with readers of the magazine. The split between readers and the independent panel of experts was 50% to 50%.
The top 3 in each category were-
2012 World Player of the Year
1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) 47.33%
2 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal) 19.01%
3 Andres Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain) 9.77%
2012 World Manager of the Year
1 Vicente Del Bosque (Spain) 28.49
2 Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid) 12.27
3 Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea) 12.05
2012 World Team of the Year
1 Spain 47.36%
2 Zambia 8.52%
3 Chelsea 7.84%
Goalkeeper
Iker Casillas
(Real Madrid & Spain, 57 votes)
Other votes
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy, 18)
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich & Germany, 18)
Petr Cech (Chelsea & Czech Republic, 15)
Defenders
Sergio Ramos
(Real Madrid & Spain, 63)
Philipp Lahm
(Bayern Munich & Germany, 48)
Vincent Kompany
Manchester City & Belgium, 42)
Jordi Alba
(Valencia/Barcelona & Spain, 42)
Others votes
Gerard Pique (Barcelona & Spain, 28)
Thiago Silva (Milan/PSG & Brazil, 28)
Mats Hummels (Bor Dortmund & Germany, 23)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea & England, 21)
Dani Alves (Barcelona & Brazil, 19)
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus & Italy, 20)
Pepe (Real Madrid & Portugal, 17)
Marcelo (Real Madrid & Brazil, 11)
David Luiz (Chelsea & Brazil, 8 )
Lucasz Piszczek (Bor Dortmund & Poland, 4)
John Terry (Chelsea & England, 4)
Midfielders
Andres Iniesta
(Barcelona & Spain, 94)
Andrea Pirlo
(Juventus & Italy, 72)
Xavi
(Barcelona & Spain, 59)
Other votes
Yaya Toure (Manchester City & Ivory Coast, 29)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid & Spain, 18)
Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur & Wales, 9)
Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid & Germany, 7)
David Silva (Manchester City & Spain, 6)
Sergio Busquets (Barcelona & Spain, 4)
Sami Khedira (Real Madrid & Germany, 4)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern M & Germany, 4)
Forwards
Cristiano Ronaldo
(Real Madrid & Portugal, 107)
Lionel Messi
(Barcelona & Argentina, 106)
Radamel Falcao
(Atletico Madrid & Colombia, 57)
Other votes
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan/PSG & Sweden, 20)
Robin Van Persie (Arsenal/Man United & Holland, 18)
Neymar (Santos & Brazil, 16)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea/Shanghai Shenhua
& Ivory Coast, 11)
