++ [ originally posted by denco ] ++
I think I mentioned it is becos he was Danish, becos imo the only player he had less ability than in the players you mentioned is Maradona, the rest he is superior to imo, How many players from Argentina have actually won player of the year? The fact remains is that politics will always prevail in any award ceremony be it oscars or music or football, The right players never seem to win but the players who are in the "It" club or "it" country do win it. Or how can you account for Gullit being European footballer of the year in 1989 or Rivaldo winning world footballer of the year twice while Figo won it when he was at Real madrid, not at Barcelona when he was indeed best player in the world.
Better yet explain to me how Man United can win the treble but a Barcelona player in Rivaldo walks off with world player of the year
Who exactly was superior to Raul last year? Will Sheva ever win it? The list goes on and on
When I say underrated, I mean when ppl talk about the best ever players its always the usual suspects like Maradona, Pele, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Moore, etc, the likes of Laudrup are hardly ever mentioned
I disagree with the statement that Laudrup was better than Mattaus, Baggio, Maldini, Cerezo or Baresi. Mattaus is arguably the only player in the 80s that was anywhere near as good as Maradona. A successor to the great Kaiser, he had everything. Laudrup was brilliant as a second striker, but he wasn't as dominating in his position as Mattaus, Baresi or Maldini was at their prime. I think if there is politics in FIFA, I think it is positional. I think forward players are often overrated and considered better players than defenders. While it is true that most forward players are more talented but that doesn't mean they are necessarily better players. The likes of Maldini, Baresi, probably deserved more to win the FIFA Player of the year award than Laudrup but yet they didn't. After all Maldini and Baresi, won everything and when on to have extremely successful careers. Not many people can boast of finishing 2nd, 3rd in the World Cup. Also Gullit, deserved to win the trophy. After all, he, Van Basten, and Baresi were the core of the team that was practicaly invincible. Beside, Gullit was a craking player. He wasn't as pretty as Laudrup to watch since latter is some sight when he is on song.

, but he was probably the better player. I mean not many player can say they can a world class as a sweeper, forward, and midfielder. That was Gullit at his very best.
Also, I think one of the legitimate reasons why Laudrup didn't win the award, is that he didn't play in Serie A for a long time. I become irritated when people think Barca and Real and spanish football in general have always been better than Serie A all the time. In 1989, Milan absolutely thrashed Real by 5-0, and in 1994, Milan gave Barca a mauling what is probably the most one sided final in recent history. Laudrup played in Spain when the world was dominated by the Italian football. He played for Barca and Real, while the likes of Klinsmann, Mattaus, Maradona, Maldini, Gullit, Van Basten, Rykaard,( I can't spell his name.

) and Voller made their trade in Italy. If you want to prove you are the best then you got to play against the best.
As for Rivaldo, winning in 99. I think that was a correct decision. Rivaldo not only had a cracking season for Barca, even though his team did not do as well as Man U, but his performance in the Coppa America was brilliant. David Beckam also had a fantastic season but in my opinion, Rivaldo just edged it. Also you can't take away the feeling that Man U was probably the luckiest team to win the champions league.

I have no doubt one day Raul will win the Balon d'or. Although, I am sceptical whether he would have enough success in the international stage to win the FIFA Player of the year award.

Sheva would also get recognition he deserves if he leads his team to the champions leauge. Sheva played well when he had pretty mediocre team players around him, but now he has show that he can still shine in the company of outstanding teammates, which is harder thing to do.
Hence why, Gullit, Maldini, Baresi, Mattaus, are such great players.