Franck Ribery has been voted the best outfield player in the first half of the Bundesliga by his fellow professionals. The French winger earned 56.4 per cent of the vote in a survey carried out by football magazine Kicker.
The magazine surveyed 238 professional players for the poll. Arjen Robben, Ribery’s colleague at Bayern Munich, was runner-up with 11.4 per cent and Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus was third on 6.8 per cent.
Ribery was named European player of the year in August and is shortlisted to be world player of the year, announced next Monday in Zurich.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno won the award for best goalkeeper as his 31.2 per cent forced German national keeper Manuel Neuer (30 per cent) into second place.
Lucien Favre of Borussia Moenchengladbach topped the best coach category with 22.7 per cent of the vote having led his side to third place in the Bundesliga table.