Best UEFA Player: Jorginho, the amazing trophy collector

The new king of European football is Jorginho. His full name is Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, although he is Italian, he comes from Brazil. In the last edition, he collected one award after another. He was the best player in the English Premier League, triumphed in the Champions League with Chelsea FC, and won the EURO 2020 with the Italian national team. And finally, he was voted the best footballer in Europe. He also received a vote from a Czech jury member in the journalist category, represented by Ruik.cz.

Just the list of trophies and major triumphs he has collected proves that he has rightly earned the crown. No one else can boast so many honours.

And who should be the best ruler when he has ruled the continent at club level (Chelsea FC conquered the Champions League) and representative level (the squadra azzurra captivated all the fans at the European Championships).

And Jorginho was a great support for both teams. Perhaps the biggest. After all, this is confirmed by winning the poll organised jointly with UEFA by the German trade magazine Kicker. Two representatives of all member states of the European Football Union, the national team coach and a journalist, always send in their votes.

Naturalised Brazilians have a strong tradition in Italy and contribute to the increased level of Serie A clubs and the national team, the squadra azzurra.

After all, the gold medal from this year’s European Championship was hung around the neck of another member of coach Roberto Mancini’s squad who was born on the South American continent, left-back Emerson (Palmieri dos Santos).

So far, the most famous Brazilian-born player to have captivated Italy and to have accepted citizenship of his new European homeland, including the honour of representing it, was striker José Altafini. The shooting star of AC Milan, SSC Napoli and Juventus Turin.

Under his original name Mazzola, he won the 1958 World Cup with Brazil in Sweden, and four years later he was playing for Italy at the championship in Chile.

Now Jorginho may topple him from the pedestal of Brazilian-Italian legend. He surely deserves to go down in the annals in golden letters. He collected a lot of trophies and honours in the 2020/2021 edition. He conquered the Champions League with Chelsea FC, the European Championship with the Italian team.

At the Champions League draw ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey, he added the biggest one – he was named the best footballer in Europe.

Results

Footballer:

1. Jorginho (Italy, Chelsea FC) – 175 points

2. Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium, Manchester City) – 167

3. N’Golo Kanté (France, Chelsea FC) – 160

4. Lionel Messi (Argentina, FC Barcelona) – 148

5. Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Bayern Munich) – 140

6. Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy, AC Milan) – 49

7. Kylian Mbappé (France, Paris Saint-Germain) – 31

8. Raheem Sterling (England, Manchester City) – 18

9. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus Turin) – 16

10. Erling Haaland (Norway, Borussia Dortmund) – 15

Coach:

1. Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea FC) – 378 points

2. Roberto Mancini (Italy) – 292

3. Josep Guardiola (Manchester City) – 198

4. Unai Emery (Villarreal FC) – 64

5. Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid) – 29

6. Antonio Conte (Inter Milan) – 19

7. Gareth Southgate (England) – 18

8. Christophe Galtier (LOSC Lille) – 16

9. Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Manchester United) – 14

10.kasper Hjulmand (Denmark) – 11

Czech vote

Jaroslav Šilhavý, national team coach

Footballer:: 1. De Bruyne, 2. Lewandowski, 3. Donarumma

Coach: 1. Mancini, 2. Tuchel, 3. Southgate

Stanislav Hrabě, Ruik

Footballer: 1. Jorginho, 2. Bonucci, 3. Kanté

Coach: 1. Mancini, 2. Hjulmand, 3. Tuchel

Source: UEFA