{"id":298377,"date":"2023-12-17T09:25:38","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T09:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=298377"},"modified":"2023-12-17T09:25:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T09:25:38","slug":"on-this-day-in-2001-michael-owen-is-named-european-footballer-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/on-this-day-in-2001-michael-owen-is-named-european-footballer-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in 2001 \u2013 Michael Owen is named European Footballer of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michael Owen was named European Footballer of the Year on this day in 2001.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool striker became the first Englishman to land the Ballon d\u2019Or award since Kevin Keegan claimed it for a second successive time in 1979.<\/p>\n
Owen became the sixth British winner since its inception in 1956: a list also featuring Stanley Matthews, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best.<\/p>\n
With 176 votes, he was ahead of Real Madrid and Spain star Raul (140) and Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Khan (114) in the top three following a poll of journalists conducted by France Football magazine.<\/p>\n
Owen had helped Gerard Houllier\u2019s Liverpool win the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and Super Cup during the calendar year \u2013 scoring twice in the 2-1 FA Cup final win over Arsenal \u2013 and netted a hat-trick in England\u2019s 5-1 win over Germany in Munich in September.<\/p>\n
At the point he was confirmed as the Ballon d\u2019Or winner, his record for club and country in 2001 was 36 goals in 54 appearances.<\/p>\n
The striker, who had only just turned 22, said: \u201cWe have had a great year at Liverpool in winning five trophies (including the Charity Shield) and I\u2019m very happy to have won this award as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome fantastic names past and hopefully in the future are going to win this award. I am very happy and delighted to join that list.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the highest privilege I can win as a player and I am over the moon to win it. I would like to thank the team and all the staff, everyone who is involved with Liverpool. It\u2019s their award too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owen was eighth in the FIFA World Player of the Year poll of international coaches, in which David Beckham was narrowly runner-up to Luis Figo.<\/p>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sign up to Miguel Delaney\u2019s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel\u2019s Delaney\u2019s free weekly newsletter Thanks […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n