"WORLD SOCCER" WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
This award begun in 1982 and is voted on by the readers of World Soccer magazine. The results in 2000 are:
| RANK | NAME | NATIONALITY |
% |
| 1 | Luis Figo | Portugal | 26.04 |
| 2 | Zinedine Zidane | France | 20.95 |
| 3 | Andrii Shevchenko | Ukraine | 10.16 |
| 4 | Rivaldo | Brazil | 4.93 |
| 5 | Thierry Henry | France | 4.77 |
| 6 | Gaizka Mendieta | Spain | 2.77 |
| 7 | Francesco Totti | Italy | 2.31 |
| 8 | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 2.15 |
| 9 | Raul | Spain | 2.01 |
| 10 | Alessandro Nesta | Italy | 1.69 |
The winner, Luis Figo, had a good 2000 season which included helping Portugal make the semi-finals of Euro 2000 and becoming the player with the world record transfer fee after his move from hated rivals Barcelona to Real Madrid. Zidane also played well at Euro 2000 while Shevchenko had a good first year in Serie A. Previous winners of the award are:
| YEAR | NAME | NATIONALITY |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi | Italy |
| 1983 | Zico | Brazil |
| 1984 | Michel Platini | France |
| 1985 | Michel Platini | France |
| 1986 | Diego Maradona | Argentina |
| 1987 | Ruud Gullit | Holland |
| 1988 | Marco Van Basten | Holland |
| 1989 | Ruud Gullit | Holland |
| 1990 | Lothar Matthaus | Germany |
| 1991 | Jean-Pierre Papin | France |
| 1992 | Marco Van Basten | Holland |
| 1993 | Roberto Baggio | Italy |
| 1994 | Paolo Maldini | Italy |
| 1995 | Gianluca Vialli | Italy |
| 1996 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
| 1997 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
| 1998 | Zinedine Zidane | France |
| 1999 | Rivaldo | Brazil |
Click here to go to the 1999 World Soccer World Player of the Year page
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