Football: Winners of the world’s top 50 individual awards in
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We are now just weeks away from the announcement of the prestigious Goal 50 accolade as we reward the best individual performers of the 2012-13 season.
Since our last Goal 50 was presented in July 2012 to Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, there have been a number of other individual prizes handed out across the world.
Below, we list 50 of the most prominent from around the globe.
| AFRICA |
| Award | Winner |
| Africa-based Player of the Year | Mohamed Aboutrika (Al-Ahly) |
| CAF Champions League Golden Boot (2012) | Emmanuel Clottey (Berekum Chelsea) |
| African Footballer of the Year | Yaya Toure (Manchester City) |
| Africa Cup of Nations Best Player | Jonathan Pitroipa (Burkina Faso) |
| Africa Cup of Natons Top Goalscorer (Shared) | E Emenike (NIG)/W Mubarak (GHA) |
| AMERICAS |
| Award | Winner |
| Copa Libertadores Best Player (2012) | Emerson (Corinthians) |
| Copa Libertadores Golden Boot (2012) [Shared] | Neymar (Santos)/Matias Alustiza (Deportivo Quito) |
| CONCACAF Champions League Best Player | Aldo de Nigris (Monterrey) |
| MLS MVP | Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes) |
| Liga MX Top Goalscorer | Christian Benitez (Club America) |
| Campeonato Brasileiro Golden Boot | Fred (Fluminense) |
| Argentina Primera Division Golden Boot | Ignacio Scocco (Newell’s Old Boys) |
| Canadian Championship Best Player | Justin Mapp (Montreal Impact) |
| Ecuador Serie A Top Goalscorer | Narciso Mina (Club America) |
| Colombia Liga Postobon Golden Boot | Robin Ramirez (Deportes Tolima) |
| ASIA & OCEANIA |
| Award | Winner |
| AFC Player of the Year | Lee Keun-Ho (Ulsan Hyundai) |
| AFC Asian International Player of the Year | Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United) |
| AFC Foreign Player of the Year | Rogerinho (Kuwait SC) |
| AFC Champions League Best Player | Lee Keun-Ho (Ulsan Hyundai) |
| J-League Golden Boot | Hisato Sato (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) |
| K-League Golden Boot | Dejan Damjanovic (FC Seoul) |
| A-League Golden Boot | Daniel McBreen (Central Coast Mariners) |
| OFC Champions League Golden Ball | Sanni Issa (Ba FC) |
| EUROPE |
| Award | Winner |
| Champions League Golden Boot | Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) |
| Europa League Golden Boot | Libor Kozak (Lazio) |
| European Golden Shoe | Lionel Messi (Barcelona) |
| European Golden Boy | Isco (Malaga) |
| Premier League Footballer of the Year | Gareth Bale (Tottenham) |
| PFA Player of the Season | Gareth Bale (Tottenham) |
| Premier League Golden Boot | Robin van Persie (Manchester United) |
| Premier League Golden Glove | Joe Hart (Manchester City) |
| La Liga Player of the Season | Lionel Messi (Barcelona) |
| La Liga Golden Boot | Lionel Messi (Barcelona) |
| La Liga Zamora Trophy | Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) |
| Serie A Golden Boot | Edinson Cavani (Napoli) |
| Bundesliga Player of the Season | Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich) |
| Bundesliga Golden Boot | Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen) |
| Ligue 1 Player of the Season | Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) |
| Ligue 1 Golden Boot | Zlatan Ibrahmovic (Paris Saint-Germain) |
| Russian Premier League Golden Boot (Shared) | Wanderson (Krasnodar)/Y Movsisyan (Spartak) |
| Eredivisie Player of the Year | Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) |
| Eredivisie Golden Boot | Wilfried Bony (Vitesse) |
| Scotland PFA Player of the Year | Michael Higdon (Motherwell) |
| WORLD |
| Award | Winner |
| Fifa Ballon d’Or | Lionel Messi (Barcelona) |
| Confederations Cup Golden Ball | Neymar (Brazil) |
| Confederations Cup Golden Boot | Fernando Torres (Spain) |
| Confederations Cup Golden Glove | Julio Cesar (Brazil) |
| Club World Cup Player of the Tournament | Cassio (Corinthians) |
| Club World Cup Golden Boot | Hisato Sato (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) |
| Fifa Puskas Award | Miroslav Stoch (Fenerbahce) |
As ever when it comes to individual recognition, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will feature prominently in any consideration for honours.
Messi was the winner of the Ballon d’Or last year, while he was also named as the top player in Spain. His goalscoring exploits saw him win the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe in what was another prolific year for the Argentine.
Ronaldo may have been outshone when it came to those honours but the Portuguese star did outscore Messi 12 to eight to pick up the Champions League Golden Boot as both Real Madrid and Barcelona reached the semi-finals.
Bayern Munich were the team of the season in Europe with their treble success and it was winger Franck Ribery who was voted player of the year in Germany by his fellow professionals.
Gareth Bale picked up the major individual prizes in England after a tremendous campaign for Tottenham, while it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who scooped up Player of the Season and top goalscorer honours in France.
In Italy, Edinson Cavani’s 29 league goals were enough to earn him the Serie A Golden Boot.
From South America, Neymar is perhaps the top candidate for Goal 50 recognition leading up to the announcement of the award. The attacking star may be wearing Barcelona colours from next season but made his mark in 2012-13 for Santos and Brazil.
He tied for the Golden Boot in the 2012 Copa Libertadores and went on to win the Golden Ball at the Confederations Cup – scoring some spectacular goals along the way – to round off an impressive 12 months.
International team-mate Julio Cesar was voted as the top goalkeeper at the Confeds while another colleague Fred was top scorer in the Brazilian league as his 20 domestic goals led Fluminense to the title.
Ignacio Scocco was in fine goalscoring form in Argentina, while Hisato Sato and Lee Keun-Ho were amongst the standout performers in Asia.
GOAL
ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
akcoomson@yahoo.com An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
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