Zetterberg elected player of the season

Par Zetterberg of Anderlecht has been elected player of the season, for the 2nd consecutive time. This is an award that is organized by Football Magazine, and it is beginning to get more appreciation, because it are the players themselves who can vote and not the journalists as with the Golden Shoe.
The captain of Anderlecht won the award clearly before topscorer Branko Strupar of Genk and Franky Van der Elst of Club Brugge. Earlier this year, Zetterberg also won the Golden Shoe - award. The 27-year old Zetterberg has been playing at Anderlecht since 1987. He was lend out to Charleroi from 1991 to 1993.

image:player_of_the_season

This was the top-10 of the player of the season:
1. - 474 pts. - Par Zetterberg (Anderlecht)
2. - 243 pts. - Branko Strupar (Rac. Genk)
3. - 179 pts. - Franky Van der Elst (Club Brugge)
4. - 139 pts. - Marc Wilmots (Schalke04 - Germany)
5. - 105 pts. - Enzo Scifo (Anderlecht)
6. - 103 pts. - Thomasz Radzinski (Germ. Ekeren)
7. - 84 pts. - Khalilou Fadiga (Club Brugge)
8. - 58 pts. - Luis Oliveira (Fiorentina - Italy)
9. - 45 pts. - Nico Van Kerckhoven (Lierse)
10. - 39 pts. - Danny Boffin (FC Metz - France)

Other awards :

Goalkeeper of the season :
1. - 424 pts. - Ronny Gaspercic (Harelbeke)
2. - 274 pts. - Dany Verlinden (Club Brugge)
3. - 210 pts. - Patrick Nys (Lommel)
4. - 129 pts. - Filip Van de Walle (Aalst)
5. - 104 pts. - Jan Moons (Germ. Ekeren)

image:player_of_the_season

Trainer of the season :
1. - 714 pts. - Eric Gerets (Club Brugge)
2. - 523 pts. - Aime Anthuenis (Rac. Genk)
3. - 94 pts. - Georges Leekens (national team)
4. - 85 pts. - Henk Houwaert (Harelbeke)
5. - 84 pts - Herman Helleputte (Germ. Ekeren)

Youth player of the season :
1. - 620 pts. - Eric Addo (Club Brugge)
2. - 380 pts. - Alin Stoica (Anderlecht)
3. - 295 pts. - Walter Bassegio (Anderlecht)
4. - 60 pts. - Carl Hoefkens (Lierse)
5. - 55 pts. - Lokonda Mpenza (Standard)

Referee of the season :
1. - 274 pts. - Frans Vandenwijngaert
2. - 135 pts. - Frank De Bleeckere
3. - 119 pts. - Michel Javeau

Fair-play award :
1. - 38 pts. - Par Zetterberg (Anderlecht)
2. - 29 pts. - Guy Vandersmissen (R.W.D.M.)
3. - 18 pts. - Franky Van der Elst (Club Brugge)

Saturday 25 April :

9 coaches fired this season

Club	Date	Coach OUT	Coach IN
Lokeren	15 August 97	Fi Van Hoof	Willy Reynders
Standard	20 October 97	Aad De Mos	Daniel Boccar (assistant)
Beveren	5 November 97	Paul Theunis	Stany Gzil
Anderlecht	2 December 97	René Vandereycken	Arie Haan
R.W.D.M.	20 January 98	Daniel Renders	Guy Vandersmissen
Standard	20 February 98	Daniel Boccar	Luka Peruzovic
Sint Truiden	4 March 98	Barry Hulshoff	Poll Peters (assistant)
Aalst	18 March 98	Urbain Haesaert	Chris Van Puyvelde (assistant)
Lierse	20 April 98	Jos Daerden	Frank Braekmans (assistant)

Wednesday 28 January :

Zetterberg surprisingly wins Golden Shoe 1997

Van der Elst just 3 points short !

The Golden Shoe is an award that is handed out each year to a soccer-player in Belgium. The points are given in 2 rounds : the first one at the end of the season, the second one at the end of the year. The votes are mainly given by journalists, plus a number of prominents of the Belgian Soccer, such as Guy Thys and Raymond Goethals (ex national trainers), Georges Leekens (current national trainer), Alex Ponnet (ex referree), ...
This year, there was only 1 major candidate : Franky Van der Elst. He had already won the Golden Shoe 2 times (1990, 1996), and this was his chance to get among the "big names" in Belgian soccer history. Paul Van Himst was the only one to win the Golden Shoe 4 times, Wilfried Van Moer and Jan Ceulemans both won it 3 times.
But it was not Van der Elst who won the Golden Shoe 1997, but Pär Zetterberg. In the first voting round, it were the players of Lierse who dominated : Eric Van Meir was 1st with 185 points, and Nico Van Kerckhoven 3rd with 129 points. Pär Zetterberg was 2nd with 152 points. Franky Van der Elst scored just 6 points in that first round, and had a lot to catch up in the second round. The second round was clearly dominated by the players of Club Brugge. Van der Elst was 1st with 234 points and Eric Addo 2nd with 113 points. But Pär Zetterberg scored surprisingly high in this second voting round : 91 points, which was just enough to stay above Van der Elst in the total rankings. But it was close : 243 points for Zetterberg versus 240 for Van der Elst.
Pär Zetterberg was rewarded for his job as captain of Anderlecht, which was not very easy. Anderlecht had a difficult year. Last season, they were just able to clinch a European ticket on the last matchday. This season, things haven't been going very well either : a lot of defeats, with the firing of coach Vandereycken. But Zetterberg was the player who kept Anderlecht going, and richly deserves the Golden Shoe !! Van der Elst (90, 96) and Zetterberg (93, 97) now both have 2 Golden Shoes, just as Michel Preud'homme and Jef Jurion.

Results of the Golden Shoe 1997 :
Player	Team	1st	2nd	Total
1. Pär Zetterberg	Anderlecht	152	91	243
2. Franky Van der Elst	Club Brugge	6	234	240
3. Eric Van Meir	Lierse	185	9	194
4. Nico Van Kerckhoven	Lierse	129	9	138
5. Lokonda Mpenza	Mouscron / Standard	125	0	125
6. Eric Addo	Club Brugge	0	113	113
7. Robert Spehar	Club Brugge	53	0	53
8. Khalilou Fadiga	Club Brugge	0	41	41
9. Branko Strupar	Racing Genk	0	26	26
10. Gert Claessens	Club Brugge	0	25	25

Mail to : marc.delperdange@student.kuleuven.ac.be

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