Kim Little has been named as footballgirl U21 World Player of the Year.

The Arsenal and Scotland international was selected after the footballgirl panel selected their final top 10 and this was broken down to their top 3.

The panel which included the editors of the top female football websites and female football journalists from around the world submitted a paragraph supporting their top 3. Their top 3 was in the order of 1 to 3. 1 being the best. The players with the most votes were then sent out again, to the panel who voted on who (out of the top 3) should be voted, as winner.
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Firstly we at footballgirl.com must thank all the men and women in our panel who not only voted but took time out of their daily lives to write why their picks should win. Thank you because this was done, during christmas and because it was for the love our game.

Female football.

''What you are doing is great for female football, I hope this grows and people realise that true female footballers get awards not just those on tv or in papers''

Garcia Rimerez

Little being Big
Kim Little won this award after a consistently fantastic year for her club team Arsenal ladies. Followed closely by Atlanta Beat and Switzerland star Ramona Bachmann who she beat by 3 votes and Kim Kulig from Hamburg SV and Germany's EURO 2009 winning team who she beat by 5 votes.

Why did Little win?..well..
Ramonna Bachmann came a close second beacuse of her displays for Switzerland during the U20 EURO 2009 and her attacking display for the first half of the Swedish Damallsvenskan season.

Then there was Kim Kulig who played great during EURO 2009, playing as a holding midfielder then taking her time to attack (Germany vs Norway), finally outplaying England and Philadelphia Charge's Fara Williams...by far.

Bachmann is a great player young or old and the top 3 were measured against older players (unlike the other finalists like Tobin Heath, Lauren Cheney, Fatimire Bajramaj) who did great against younger players or did not make a great impact on their senior (older) players.

While Bachmann made an impact in her domestic league and at youth level it was through youth football and can not compare to 'older' senior football. This is where Kim Kulig came to the Top 3 as she (as a teenager) during 2009, became one of the best midfielders in the world .

Kulig's displays for Germany from the Algarve Cup in March to the EURO 2009 final were superb however her club team Hamburger SV did not come up to the level of Duisburg or Turbine Potsdam in the German league.

That left Kim Little an under cover pick from just over half the journalists (6 of them needing extra footage). to become your winner.

When Karen Carney, Kelly Smith and Alex Scott, left to join the WPS, Arsenal were left bare. The last month of the English season saw Kim Little step up technically and win games for Arsenal Ladies. Her performance and winning goal against Chelsea (2 weeks before the end of the season) and her winning goal in the Cup final were something special.

Male or female football.

 

''..hey, she turned in slow motion around the goalkeeper then kissed the ball into an empty net..it was very good but great becuase it was in front of thousands of people and on national tv''
Tiago Merlot

That month she won the league for her club team and unlike the other 'Top 3' she did not have her international appearances to call on. Little though did have 20 plus goals during the Champions League for the second part of 2009. The Champions League has much more weight and Little always delivered even when her team knew they would win and eased up, she played or put the ball in the net with style.

We all take our hats off to a teenager who does the 'little things well'. Touch, control, movement, decision making, use of space/awareness, left and right foot, goalscorer (top in Champions league) and goal maker.

2009 U21 World Player of the Year

'Periquito'

Kim Little

 

The views and opinions expressed in this article and from external websites and/or links are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of footballgirl or www.footballgirl.com

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