The European Player of the Year. It was increasingly more and more difficult task to vote somebody the best – plenty of talent, but hardly unquestionable stars, combining great personal performance with overwhelming performance of their club. 27 players were listed by the participating journalists – longer list than some of the lists in the past, but… there were plenty of ‘but’. At the end 4 strikers ended on top. Preben Elkjaer-Larsen, Denmark and Verona, was 4th with 22 points. One may wonder why so high, another would be satisfied with such recognition. Emilio Butragueno, Spain and Real Madrid, was 3rd with 59 points. Bright young star, just coming to maturity. Real Madrid won the UEFA Cup, Spain had some strong games – but also few questionable ones, just like Real Madrid. Gary Lineker, England and Barcelona, was 2nd with 62 points – perhaps more deserving than Butragueno and Elkjaer-Larsen, but England generally failed at the World Cup. And in Barcelona Lineker did not have a presence similar to Butragueno’s in Real Madrid. Compare these high positions with rather low place Ian Rush got with only 20 points and not a single journalist putting him first or second in his classification. Rush was perhaps better – at this time – than all of the above, but English clubs were banned from playing in the European tournaments and Wales had no chance to qualify to big finals. Rush had to depend only on the domestic English championship and that was not enough. Thus, at the end the number one player was a bit unusual:
Igor Belanov, Dinamo Kiev and USSR, got most points – 84. He was listed number one by 8 journalists and number two by 7. Certainly more people listed him at the top than any other player, but more remarkable was that 21 journalists listed him number 6, the lowest places giving points. That is, Belanov’s talent was universally noticed, but most did not considered him the best, but only one of the top continental strong players.
Really, Belanov got the award largely thanks to his play at the Cup Winners Cup final. Dinamo Kiev dazzled everybody in this match and won it against worthy opponent, Atletico Madrid, displaying football at much higher level. Belanov was splendid himself. Yet, not just to foreign eye Belanov came from nowhere – even on the Soviet Union he hardly caught much attention in the previous years, when he played for Chernomoretz (Odessa). It was his move to Dinamo which propelled him to great season and eventual inclusion in the national team. Yes, his talent finally hit home, but Belanov was not some talented youngster – he was mature player at his prime. The jump from relative obscurity to international fame was not only sudden, but inconsistent too: Belanov failed to impress much at the World Cup finals. Thus, it was mostly thanks to Cup Winners Cup final he won the European award. And unlike all previous holders of the trophy, Belanov was unable to stay at this level longer – strong player, no question about it, but also one-time-wonder.
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