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The official decision on the foundation of UEFA was taken during a meeting which was held in Basle just before the World Cup due to be held in Switzerland, but it was during the first UEFA Congress that was held in Vienna in March 1955 that the Europe-wide football association’s founding was approved.
As UEFA was still finding its feet, the popular French paper L’Equipe presented its new project for a European Cup. Sports editor Gabriel Hanot aided by Jacques Ferran, put a strong case forward. Hanot, an ex-player, technical advisor and national coach, made it clear that the paper did not want to run the organisation but merely to sponsor the competition. The first two items on the Vienna agenda was the foundation of UEFA and the introduction of a competition for European champions. The other items were the introduction of a European competition for national sides (European Nations Cup Competition), the Inter-Fairs Cities competition and the revival of the Mitropa Cup. Hanot’s dream was achieved.
The first edition of the European Champions Cup attracted just sixteen clubs and the competition got underway on September 4, 1955, in Lisbon when Sporting Club de Portugal faced Partizan of Belgrade. The formation of UEFA and the Champions Cup were
followed by yet another novelty as the following year, the influential weekly France Football organised the first edition for the ‘Best Player of the Year.’ The legendary Stanley Matthews who also lived in Malta for a number of years, topped the charts. The next three editions, were won by the Argentinian wizard Alfredo di Stefano (twice) and the elegant Frenchman Raymond Kopa, both of Real Madrid, as the Madrilenos were conquerors of Europe.
The choice of the Ballon d’Or became an annual attraction. It had the best possible promotion as it was the sportswriters who were the selectors. The idea caught on though not fast enough by certain bodies.
FIFA’s choice
It took the world’s supreme body of football, decades to make its own choice and FIFA was founded fifty years ahead of UEFA.
It was not before 1991 that FIFA invited the national coaches of the member associations to nominate their choice of ‘World’s best player for the year!’ This year FIFA presented a list of 35 players, who were selected by the technical committee, apart from coaches, invited team captains and union representatives to cast their votes. This list includes 26 European footballers and 9 non- Europeans who are involved in European leagues.
The top three have been officially announced; these are the Frenchman Thierry Henry (Arsenal), the Ukranian Andrej Shevchenko (Milan) and the Brazilian Ronaldinho (Barcelona). The presentation will be made on December 20, during a gala night which FIFA is organising in Zurich to mark the centenary of its foundation, whereas France Football will announce the winner six days earlier. The favourites for this year’s award are Shevchenko, Deco (Barcelona) and Ronaldinho in that order. Shevchenko should not miss.
When these choices are made midfielders and attackers seem to have an edge on the rest. Goalkeepers and defenders hardly rate their chances. The Soviet Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper who managed to pick this prestigious title and that was way back in 1963. No defenders have been honoured while Marco Van Basten (Holland), Michel Platini (France) and Johan Cruijff (Holland) won the Golden Ball three times and Ronaldo was chosen thrice as FIFA’s best.
As customary with all national associations, the Malta FA names its ‘footballer of the year’ at the end of the competitive season though different media stations and dailies make their own selections. Obviously it is a matter of choice as reporters do have different ways of assessing players’ performances.
In England there are also two awards, one made by the media, the other by the professional players themselves. Most of the time they do not select the same individual, so the sporting public ends with two ‘bests’.
Variety may be the spice of life, but in this case it is clearly a situation when ‘one is not enough’.
Yearly awards
In Malta every sport Association honours their heroes while at National level we have yet two very similar events. The original ‘national contests’ were introduced by Benny Pace in 1960 through ‘The Sporting Star’. First it was ‘The Sportsman of the Year’, and the following year there was a particular choice for the female athlete while in 1962, recognition was also made for the ‘Official’. The Sportswriters Association saw the light of day some ten years later and started its nominations. Thus we also had two ‘bests’ of the year, till better sense prevailed. Eventually, the Malta Olympic Committee got into the act and combined their efforts with the Sportswriters Association, however a couple of years ago, these two bodies went separate ways.
Now we have the MOC ‘recognizing the dedication, sacrifice and success while the Sportswriters also staging the National Contest which I rightly presume will also honour athletes not for stripping down Republic Street but for their outstanding achievements.
One does not have to be a technical wizard to predict that shooter William Chetcuti and the Women’s Basketball national team will win titles from both panels.
It is yet another example that ‘one is never enough’.
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