Nadine Kessler is Women’s World Player of the Year

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Women’s World Player of the Year

In what turned out to be a great evening for German football, Wolfsburg and Germany midfielder Nadine Kessler was named women’s player of the year. The 26-year-old beat Brazil’s Marta and United States international Abby Wambach.

Kessler said: “My heart is beating madly at the moment. I don’t think I ever thought in my life I would achieve this moment.  Without my team-mates and my coach, this would never have been possible. I have a great degree of gratitude that I must give to my family. They have seen me through all the difficult times.”

Kessler is also the holder of the UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe Award.

We look forward to seeing her in action at the World Cup in Canada this year.

World Coach  – women’s football

Wolfsburg boss Ralf Kellermann , 46,was named women’s football coach of the year after leading the German club to a successful defence of the Champions League.  On receiving the award Kellermann said: “This award is an outstanding moment. Unfortunately I’ve picked up an individual award for what is team sport, so I dedicate this to my whole team.”  Kellermann also paid tribute to Wolfsburg midfielder Junior Malanda who sadly died recently.

Kellermann beat Germany Under-20 boss Maren Meinert and Japan boss Norio Sasaki to the award.

Puskas Award (goal of the year)

Colombia’s James Rodriguez , 23, won the FIFA goal of the year award for his World Cup strike against Uruguay, beating Irishwoman Stephanie Roche into second place and Robin van Persie into third.

Roche, who scored a stunner for Peamount against Wexford in the Irish top flight, had hoped to be the first female winner of the Puskas Award.  She landed 33% of the public vote to Rodriguez’s 42%. Manchester United striker Robin van Persie – the third nominee – earned just 11% for his diving header against Spain in the World Cup.

Whilst not winning the award Stephanie has surely elevated the status of women’s football and public perception of the skill level involved – she has certainly awakened a lot of people to the reality of the women’s game.

Other awards:

Ballon D’Or for the best player in the world went for the third time to Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal) defending his title and beating Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina) and Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany).

Men’s Coach of the year to the World Cup Winning German coach Joachim Löw

Fair Play Award went to the thousands of volunteers who helped with the World Cup.

The Presidential Award was picked by Fifa president Sepp Blatter for “a person that has made a superlative contribution to football without seeking to monopolise the limelight”.  The winner was Japanese journalist Hiroshi Kagawa, who covered his 10th World Cup last summer at the age of 89.  Quite some achievement!