| Ronaldinho,
Rooney Voted World's Best Soccer Players by Union
Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's Ronaldinho was voted player of
the year by soccer's international players' union, with
England's Wayne Rooney winning the young player award.
The 25-year-old Ronaldinho, who helped Barcelona clinch the
Spanish championship last season, added the FIFPro accolade to
last year's FIFA world player of the year award, which was
decided by a panel of national team coaches.
Rooney, 19, was chosen as the best young player by his peers
after scoring four goals for England at last year's European
Championship and helping Manchester United to a second straight
F.A. Cup final.
FIFPro's world team of the year included five players from
Italian club AC Milan, last year's Champions League runner-up,
three from English Premiership champion Chelsea, and none from
European champion Liverpool.
Between April and July, about 38,000 professional soccer
players, who belong to the 40 national organizations which form
FIFPro, voted in a secret ballot to select the world team.
FIFPro World XI:
Goalkeeper: Nelson Dida (Brazil/AC Milan)
Defenders: Cafu (Brazil/AC Milan) Alessandro Nesta (Italy/ AC
Milan) John Terry (England/Chelsea) Paolo Maldini (Italy/AC
Milan)
Midfielders: Ronaldinho (Brazil/Barcelona) Frank Lampard
(England/Chelsea) Claude Makelele (France/Chelsea) Zinedine
Zidane (France/Real Madrid)
Forwards: Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon/Barcelona) Andrei Shevchenko
(Ukraine/AC Milan)
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