Football “Nice Recognition”
Ilkay Gündogan is Germany’s footballer of the year
Status: 06.08.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Germany’s Footballer of the Year, Ilkay Gündogan, won the Champions League with Manchester City
Source: dpa/Martin Rickett
Ilkay Gündogan has been voted Footballer of the Year in Germany for the first time. The German international has had a perfect season with Manchester City. Trainer of the year is a Swiss.
National player Ilkay Gündogan has been voted Germany’s footballer of the year for the first time. The 32-year-old, who switched from Manchester City to FC Barcelona this summer, won the journalists’ vote organized by “Kicker” with 198 votes, well ahead of Bundesliga strikers Niclas Füllkrug (88) from SV Werder Bremen and Randal Kolo Muani (69) by Eintracht Frankfurt.
Urs Fischer, who led 1. FC Union Berlin to the Champions League for the first time, was voted the best coach of the 2022/2023 season. The Swiss triumphed with 293 votes, clearly ahead of Frank Schmidt (63) from Bundesliga promoted 1. FC Heidenheim and Christian Streich (62), who has again reached the Europa League with SC Freiburg.
The elections for female footballer of the year will not be completed until August 20 due to the ongoing World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The award feels “like a reward for hard work,” said Gündogan. “I see it as a very, very nice recognition.” Last season, as captain, the midfielder led City to a treble consisting of championship, national cup and Champions League. He then said goodbye after a total of seven years at the top English club and moved on to FC Barcelona in Spain.
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“This award is absolutely deserved. Ilkay has worked a lot for this in recent years,” said national team colleague Leroy Sané from FC Bayern Munich, who once played with Gündogan in Manchester. “His performances, especially in the final stages of the season at ManCity, were incredible. I’m happy for him that he’s now also being given the appropriate appreciation in Germany.”
Urs Fischer is coach of the year
In the national team, for which he has played 67 international matches so far, Gündogan should focus even more on the home European Championship in the coming year. National coach Hansi Flick recently told the “kicker” that he had to “take on even more leadership”. “Because of his performance and his nature, he is totally recognized in the team. Ilkay brings everything to go ahead. And that’s what we expect from him.”
The election result pleases him and makes him proud, said Union coach Fischer. “But you won’t be able to do it as an individual, behind such an award there is always a team, a club. They all help that you can receive such an honor at the end.” The 57-year-old has been the Köpenicker coach since 2018. Since then he led them first from the second to the first division, then to the Conference League and the Europa League and now, for the first time, to the premier class.
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“Urs and Union Berlin have worked smart and have achieved great things since they were promoted to the Bundesliga,” praised his Freiburg colleague Streich, who was named coach of the year last year.
