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24th November 2006

Barcelona-players receive FIFPro Award at Camp Nou

Today, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi received a FIFPro-Award for their outstanding play during the 2005/2006 season.

Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram (who both played for Juventus last season) were chosen as two of the four best defenders, alongside John Terry and Fabio Cannavaro. They received their award from Gerardo Movilla, President of the Spanish Players´ Union AFE and vice-president of FIFPro.

Ronaldinho was chosen as an attacker for the World XI team, alongside Thierry Henry and team mate Samuel Eto'o, who could not be present at Nou Camp because he is recovering at Mallorca from his injury at Mallorca. Barca's vice-president Alfons Godall took care of Eto'o's award.

Apart from picking eleven names for the FIFPro World XI, each player also voted for who they considered to have been the very best player in the past season. Once again, Ronaldinho received the most votes for the FIFPro Player of the Year 2005-06 Award.

Lionel Messi won the ASPIRE FIFPro Young Player Award thanks to his outstanding play in the 2005-06 season. He beat Cesc Fabregas, Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo and Lukas Podolski for this award.

Finally, the FIFPro Players for Peace Award was given to Barcelona itself. The club demonstrated its social commitment in a unique way by donating its shirt advertising space to Unicef, instead of selling it off to the highest bidder.

Source: FIFPro