Top 3 nominees announced for UEFA Best Player in Europe 2011/12
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
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Award ceremony to take place on 30 August in Monaco
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067 - Award ceremony to take place on 30 August in Monaco
Following last year’s launch of the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, created in partnership with the European Sports Media (ESM), UEFA today announced the names of the three short-listed nominees, who will run for the title of UEFA Best Player in Europe 2011/12.
The three nominated players who received the most points overall from the first round of voting are, in alphabetical order; Andrés Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona), and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid CF).
The results for the players voted to positions 4 to 10 are:
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 4 | Andrea Pirlo (Italy, Juventus) | 90 |
| 5 | Xavi Hernández (Spain, FC Barcelona) | 57 |
| 6 | Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid CF) | 53 |
| 7 | Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea FC*) | 31 |
| 8 | Petr Čech (Czech Republic, Chelsea FC) | 14 |
| 8 | Radamel Falcao (Colombia, Club Atlético de Madrid) | 14 |
| 10 | Mesut Özil (Germany, Real Madrid CF) | 10 |
* club concerned for the season 2011/12
As was the case in 2011, a jury of renowned sports journalists from each of UEFA’s 53 member associations has provided a list of their five best-ranked players (in 2011 it was three players only). The players were ordered from one to five, with the first receiving five points, the second four points and so on. In mid-July the 32-player long list was published containing all players who received points in the first round of voting.
The jury will proceed to a live vote on 30 August in Monaco during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw, when the same journalists will use an electronic system to determine the outright winner from the three candidates.
The list of the fifty-three voting journalists can be found here