Ten cool facts about the FIFA Player of the Year award

This is the time of year when the FIFA World Player of the Year award is decided by the votes of the coaches and captains of national teams around the world.

An introduction to the mechanism of the system used to select the player of the year will be discussed first. The award started in 1991 for the male player and in 2001 for the female player categories respectively. Basically, the coaches and captains of the national teams would vote for the players selected by FIFA's สตาร์ลาลีกา. The system used is called Borda's count, where each coach and captain would obtain three votes (one of five points, one of three points and one of one point) to cast by the players of their choice. And the winner would be determined by the total points received. The winner last year was Real Madrid's Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro.

And here are ten cool things about the FIFA World Player of the Year award

1. The 2006 award winner, Fabio Cannavaro, is the first defender or player other than a midfielder or forward to have won the award since Lothar Matthaus won it in 1991. The closet that any other defender or goalkeeper has come to Accolades before Cannavaro's victory are Oliver Kahn (Goalkeeper, second in 2002), Roberto Carlos (Defense, second in 1997) and Paolo Maldini (Defense, second in 1995).

2. In the last sixteen editions of the awards, the forwards and midfielders had won it seven times each. Therefore, outfield players, with the exception of defenders, are a more popular choice for the award. It is summarized that, since the forwards and midfielders monopolize most of the glory in the competitions, their possibilities are equally greater than those of the defenders and the goalkeepers.

3. There are two triple award winners since their inception in 1991. They are French midfielder Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000 and 2003) and Brazilian forward Ronaldo (1996, 1997 and 2002). The other player who has won more than once is the Brazilian Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005).

4. No player has won the award for three consecutive years on the list. The closet that anyone has come to are Ronaldo (1996 and 1997) and Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005). It would take something really special every season for a player to make it.

5. Although the award is intended for the best player in the world, only players from Europe, Africa, and South America make the final list. Hence, there has been a lot of criticism from some corner of the world about the selection process.

6. Another interesting fact is apart from the nomination of Juan Román Riquleme in 2007 when he played on loan from Boca Juniors, all the players on the short list came from clubs in Europe.

7. No English player or UK player has won the award before. The closet they have come to are Gary Lineker (1991, third), Alan Shearer (1996, third), David Beckham (1999 and 2001, both seconds) and Frank Lampard (2005, second). Perhaps it would be necessary for England to win the World Cup or the European Championship for an Englishman to win the prize.

8. Brazil has the most victories by nationality. Brazilian players have won the award a staggering seven times; four times more than the closest nationality of the French with three victories. It could be the style and offensive nature of the Brazilian players that assured them the victories, as players like Ronaldo, Ronaldino, Rivaldo and Romario are talented attacking players. Or it could come down to names, since all Brazilian winners have a letter "R" to head their names.

9. The last six award winners come from teams in the Spanish League. Hence it can be seen that it is not the English Premiership with the most stars, but the League.

10. FC Barcelona had six player winners within its ranks, while Real Madrid's great rivals had four. Therefore, there is a majority of winners (a staggering sixty-three percent) of both for the last sixteen awards since the inception of the award. His closet rivals for this honor are the Italian Giants Juventus with four winners.