Ribery named Bundesliga Player of the Year

10 June 2013 16:56

Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has been named Bundesliga Player of the Year by his fellow professionals.

Over 200 players voted in the poll run by Kicker magazine and Ribery was the overwhelming winner, claiming 29 percent of the vote, over 11 percent more than second-placed Robert Lewandowski.

Ribery enjoyed a stunning campaign for Bayern last season, helping them collect three trophies both at home and in Europe, scoring 10 goals himself and providing 15 assists as the Bavarians became the first German side to win the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and UEFA Champions League in one term.

The France international has also signed an extension to his current contract at the Allianz Arena that will see him remain at the club until 2017.

Dortmund striker Lewandowski was runner-up to Ribery, with Bayern team-mate Bastian Schweinsteiger coming third.

There was also a victory for Manuel Neuer as he collected the award for Goalkeeper of the Year. The Germany international made 44 appearances for Bayern this season and narrowly took the prize ahead of Roman Weidenfeller and Rene Adler.

Bayern were unable to make it a clean sweep of awards though as coach Jupp Heynckes was beaten in the Coach of the Year poll by Freiburg’s Christian Streich.

Despite Heynckes winning a European and domestic treble, Streich polled 48.7 per cent of the vote after guiding Freiburg into fifth place in the Bundesliga last season.