Japanese World Cup winner Homare Sawa beat out a strong field that included Brazilian Marta and Abby Wambach to win the FIFA Women’s World Player of the year 2011.
Marta who was looking to win the award for a 6th consecutive time had to contend with a second place finish while Abby Wambach of the USA came in in third place.
The award capped an amazing year for Sawa that saw her win both the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot at the World Cup in Germany. Receiving the award from singer Shakira, Sawa was quoted as saying that she was proud to be seated among Legends in the women’s game.
“I am proud to be sitting here today alongside such legends as Marta,” Sawa said at a news conference.
Sawa won by garnering 28.5 % of the votes cast. Her coach who was also a winner on the night had nothing but praise for his player calling her an iconic figure in the Japanese football team.
“She perfectly symbolises the kind of football that our team tries to pull off,” Norio Sasaki said.
Mr. Sasaki won the the Women’s coach of the year award beating out USA’s Pia Sundhage and France’s Bruno Bini.
Photo Credit © 梓婷