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Chivu 'Player of the Year' - or not?

8 September: Last Monday, Cristian Chivu was presented the Golden Shoe Award for 2001-2002 during the 21st Player of the Year Gala. However, two days later, during the Professional Football Gala, Feyenoord striker Pierre van Hooijdonk was 'Player of the Year'. Strange?

Strange as it may seem, it is not that complicated. The Golden Shoe ranking is organized by daily newspaper De Telegraaf and leading soccer magazine Voetbal International. The table is based on the weekly report marks the players received during the season. Chivu finished tops, just before NAC's Alfred Schreuder, FC Utrecht's Dirk Kuijt and departing Heerenveen striker, Markus Allbäck.

The Professional Football Gala, on the other hand, is organized by the Union of Contract Players (VVCS). For this award, all Eredivisie players give their vote to the Eredivisie colleague they thought was the best. Chivu was nominated with the final three, but his fellow Eredivisie chose for Pierre van Hooijdonk.

The 'Talent Of The Year' award had a similar outcome: whereas a young Ajacied (Rafaël van der Vaart) finished at the top of the over-all Telegraaf and VI ranking of the season on Monday, well ahead of Robin van persie (Feyenoord), the majority of the Dutch professionals voted for Van Persie on Wednesday, during the VVCS Gala. For the VVCS awards, Van der Vaart - who missed half the season due to injuries - wasn't even nominated. Fellow Ajacied Mido was, but he finished third, whereas Maxwell and Yakubu shared the fifth slot in the eyes of their colleagues.

An interesting result: whereas the Golden Shoe awards were an all Ajax affair (with Chivu and Van der Vaart winning), the VVCS Gala was dominated by Feyenoord, winner of last year's UEFA cup. The Eredivisie players were apparently deeply impressed by the Rotterdammers' achievement. Feyenoord won the VVCS awards in all other categories, as well: 'Best Coach', 'Best Goalkeeper' and 'Best Team'.

Despite the existence of two different competitions, the presentation of the Golden Shoe was a very special happening for Cristian Chivu. Romanian legend and Chivu's former national coach, Gheorghe Hagi, handed out the trophy to his younger countryman. It is common knowledge that Chivu has always been a great fan of Hagi. Chivu's moving words upon receiving the trophy: "I want to dedicate this award to the Ajax players and to my father." Chivu's father passed away unexpectedly when Chivu had just joined Ajax. (BV)

(Source: VI Planet.nl and Ajax Netwerk)