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Zidane voted Europe's top soccer player
French midfielder Zinedine Zidane was named as Europe's top soccer player of the past 50 years.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:04 AM IST
Read Time: 2 min
Nyon, Switzerland:
French midfielder Zinedine Zidane was named as Europe's top soccer player of the past 50 years.
Zidane edged out Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff in a poll conducted by UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, it was announced yesterday.
Zidane, the French and Real Madrid star, received 123,582 votes in a poll of users of UEFA's websitea€"www.uefa.com.
Beckenbauer of Germany was next with 122,569 votes followed by Dutchman Cruyff with 119,332.
Rounding out the top 10 were: Marco van Basten (Netherlands), Dino Zoff (Italy), Alfredo di Stefano (Spain), Eusebio (Portugal), Lev Yashin ( earstwhile Soviet Union), Michel Platini (France) and Paolo Maldini (Italy).
In the second 10 were: Ferenc Puskas (Hungary), Paolo Rossi (Italy), Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), Bobby Charlton (England), Lothar Matthaeus (Germany), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Germany), Franco Baresi (Italy), Gerd Mueller (Germany), George Best (Northern Ireland) and Kevin Keegan (England).
"Just to be in the top 20 is touching, it's great. It is extraordinary to be voted one of the best European players of the post 50 years," Zidane told UEFA speaking from Madrid. The vote was part of UEFA's 50th anniversary celebration.
Zidane, 31, won the World Cup with France in 1998 and added the 2000 European championship. He also scored the winning goal for Real Madrid to beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the 2002 Champions League final.
He has twice been named the top player of the year by FIFA, the world governing body of soccer. (AP)
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