Florian Wirtz named Germany's Footballer of the Year
Berlin
Germany and Liverpool midfielder Florian Wirtz was named Germany's Footballer of the Year in a vote organized by Kicker, the sports magazine announced on Sunday.
Wirtz received 191 votes, 110 more than second-placed Michael Olise (Bayern Munich, 81 votes). VfB Stuttgart young star Nick Woltemade was third with 71 votes.
Votes were cast by 633 members of the German Association of Sports Journalists.
'In football, the personal recognition of individual players is always and above all an award for the collective,' Wirtz said.
'I am aware that I still have a lot of work ahead of me to meet all the expectations that are associated with an award such as Footballer of the Year.' Wirtz led Leverkusen to Bundesliga and German Cup titles in an unbeaten 2023-24 domestic season.
This summer, he decided for a transfer to Premier League champions Liverpool.
He arrived at Anfield for an initial £100 million ($134.4 million), with a further £16 million of achievable add-ons making his move from a potentially British record-breaking one.
Freiburg coach Julian Schuster was voted Coach of the Year. He took over last summer after club icon Christian Streich departed following 12 years in the role and led the team to the Europa League.
For the first time ever, two players - Germany captain Giulia Gwinn and Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger - received the same number of votes (145 each) and were both named women's Footballer of the Year.
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