Rivaldo Crowned FIFA Wolrd Player of the Year

Brazilian Rivaldo Vito Barbosa Ferreira was awarded the title of FIFA World Player of the year for 1999 this evening. The ceremony held in Brussels saw the Barcelona star beat competition from Gabriel Batistuta and David Beckham. The voting system employed to reveal the World Player saw a total of 91 of the worlds leading coaches endorse Rivaldo overwhelmingly as the FIFA Player of the Year for 1999. Rivaldo, with 543 points, was followed in second place by England and Manchester United’s David Beckham polled 194 points and Argentine Gabriel Batistuta finished in third place with 79 points. It is only the ninth year in which the FIFA World Player has been chosen by the coaches of the world’s national teams; this year witnessed a record 140 coaches taking part in the voting. For further details on previous winners of this award please check sports news stories for “FIFA Player of the year: former winners”.