2017 was an all-around successful year for the Germany national team and the highlight was without a doubt winning the Confederations Cup in July. Germany were unbeaten in 2017, winning eleven matches and drawing four. They are now unbeaten in 21 international fixtures. With an array of impressive team performances, there are many worthy candidates who could take home the ‘Player of the Year’ crown. The Fan Club Nationalmannschaft powered by Coca-Cola have left it up to the fans to decide who will take the award home!
Top eleven players have been nominated
The eleven players nominated for the award have been chosen because they have featured the most for the Germany national team this year. Joshua Kimmich has played 1260 minutes for Germany in 2017, the most of any player in the squad. He only missed one of 15 international fixtures this year when head coach Joachim Löw rested the Bayern München player for the match against France. Julian Draxler made the second-most appearances for Germany, playing a total of 1024 minutes and captaining the team at the Confederations Cup.
Marc-André ter Stegen, Jonas Hector and Lars Stindl have all made ten appearances for Germany in 2017. Meanwhile, Antonio Rüdiger has featured eleven times. Top goal scorer Timo Werner makes the list after scoring seven goals for Germany in just ten matches. Leon Goretzka, Sebastian Rudy, Matthias Ginter and Emre Can have all also been nominated for the ‘Player of the Year’ award.
Why Özil and Co. have not been nominated
The nomination process for the ‘Player of the Year’ award was particularly difficult this year because Joachim Löw used 37 players in just 15 matches. This high number is partly due to the fact that some 2014 World Cup winners were not nominated for the Confederation Cup and some young players were given a chance in Russia instead. As a result, certain players are lacking the match minutes needed to slip into the candidacy group for the ‘Player of the Year’ election.
This means the five-time ‘Player of the Year’ winner Mesut Özil, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos and Thomas Müller have not been nominated for the award.
Simply click on this link to cast your vote, which will run until Friday 19th January 2018 at 12pm.
Former ‘Player of the Year’ award winners
2010: Bastian Schweinsteiger
2011: Mesut Özil
2012: Mesut Özil
2013: Mesut Özil
2014: Toni Kroos
2015: Mesut Özil
2016: Mesut Özil