Ronaldinho named Player of the Year
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-10 11:01

Brazilian Ronaldinho was named World Soccer magazine's Player of the Year on Thursday with Jose Mourinho winning Manager of 2004 and Greece taking the Team award.

Ronaldinho gets friendly : FC Barcelona's Brazilian Ronaldinho controls the ball during a friendly football match to raise money for AIDS projects, at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. [AFP]

Barcelona's Ronaldinho came top with 28.6 per cent of the readers' poll, beating Thierry Henry of Arsenal (22.2 per cent) and Andriy Shevchenko of AC Milan.

Mourinho, who won the Champions League with Porto before moving to Chelsea, was the overwhelming winner in the coach's section with 35.5 per cent of the vote.

Otto Rehhagel, who took Greece to an unexpected victory at Euro 2004, was runner-up and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger third.

Greece narrowly won the Team award following their shock European Championship victory in Portugal. They polled 25.1 per cent, just ahead of Arsenal, who won the Premier League title without losing a match and went on to establish an English League record of 49 games unbeaten.

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