# RSSSF

The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the world.

## Website

The RSSSF website contains football-related statistics in the form of lists without commentary and it is maintained by volunteer contributors. It is considered one of "the most complete" publicly available statistical football databases in the world, and has virtually every piece of historical information.
This enterprise, according to its founders, was created in January 1994 by three regulars of the Rec.Sport.Soccer (RSS) Usenet newsgroup: Lars Aarhus, Kent Hedlundh, and Karel Stokkermans. It was originally known as the "North European Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation", but the geographical reference was dropped as its membership from other regions grew.
The RSSSF has members and contributors from all around the world and has spawned seven spin-off projects to more closely follow the leagues of that project's home country. The spin-off projects are dedicated to Albania, Brazil, Denmark, Norway, Romania, Uruguay, Venezuela and Egypt. In November 2002, the Polish service 90minut.pl became the official branch of RSSSF Poland.

## Player of the Year award

The Rec.Sport.Soccer Player of the Year Award was an annual football award presented by the organisation. First presented in 1992, the readers of the newsgroup voted in a format similar to that of the France Football Ballon d'Or award. It recognised the best player in the world and was discontinued after the 2005 edition.
Award winners :
| Year | Rank | Player | Team | Votes |
| 1992 | 1st | Marco van Basten | AC Milan | 207 |
| 1992 | 2nd | Hristo Stoichkov | Barcelona | 87 |
| 1992 | 3rd | Peter Schmeichel | Manchester United | 62 |
| 1993 | 1st | Roberto Baggio | Juventus | 407 |
| 1993 | 2nd | Romário | Barcelona | 295 |
| 1993 | 3rd | Dennis Bergkamp | Inter Milan | 178 |
| 1994 | 1st | Romário | Barcelona | 269 |
| 1994 | 2nd | Hristo Stoichkov | Barcelona | 254 |
| 1994 | 3rd | Paolo Maldini | AC Milan | 158 |
| 1995 | 1st | George Weah | AC Milan | 153 |
| 1995 | 2nd | Paolo Maldini | AC Milan | 102 |
| 1995 | 3rd | Patrick Kluivert | Ajax | 88 |
| 1996 | 1st | Ronaldo | Barcelona | 348 |
| 1996 | 2nd | Alan Shearer | Newcastle United | 241 |
| 1996 | 3rd | Matthias Sammer | Borussia Dortmund | 215 |
| 1997 | 1st | Ronaldo | Inter Milan | 276 |
| 1997 | 2nd | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | 129 |
| 1997 | 3rd | Gabriel Batistuta | Fiorentina | 75 |
| 1998 | 1st | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | 335 |
| 1998 | 2nd | Gabriel Batistuta | Fiorentina | 175 |
| 1998 | 3rd | Lilian Thuram | Parma | 136 |
| 1999 | 1st | Rivaldo | Barcelona | 536 |
| 1999 | 2nd | David Beckham | Manchester United | 313 |
| 1999 | 3rd | Andriy Shevchenko | AC Milan | 186 |
| 2000 | 1st | Luís Figo | Real Madrid | 648 |
| 2000 | 2nd | Zinedine Zidane | Juventus | 535 |
| 2000 | 3rd | Rivaldo | Barcelona | 272 |
| 2001 | 1st | Michael Owen | Liverpool | 288 |
| 2001 | 2nd | Luís Figo | Real Madrid | 234 |
| 2001 | 3rd | Raúl | Real Madrid | 216 |
| 2002 | 1st | Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 447 |
| 2002 | 2nd | Roberto Carlos | Real Madrid | 371 |
| 2002 | 3rd | Zinedine Zidane | Real Madrid | 341 |
| 2003 | 1st | Pavel Nedvěd | Juventus | 818 |
| 2003 | 2nd | Thierry Henry | Arsenal | 540 |
| 2003 | 3rd | Zinedine Zidane | Real Madrid | 350 |
| 2004 | 1st | Ronaldinho | Barcelona | 437 |
| 2004 | 2nd | Andriy Shevchenko | AC Milan | 329 |
| 2004 | 3rd | Deco | Barcelona | 297 |
| 2005 | 1st | Ronaldinho | Barcelona | 482 |
| 2005 | 2nd | Frank Lampard | Chelsea | 281 |
| 2005 | 3rd | Steven Gerrard | Liverpool | 191 |
Wins by player :
| Player | Winner | Second place | Third place |
| Ronaldo | 3 (1996, 1997, 2002) | — | — |
| Ronaldinho | 2 (2004, 2005) | — | — |
| Zinedine Zidane | 1 (1998) | 2 (1997, 2000) | 2 (2002, 2003) |
| Romário | 1 (1994) | 1 (1993) | — |
| Luís Figo | 1 (2000) | 1 (2001) | — |
| Rivaldo | 1 (1999) | — | 1 (2000) |
| Marco van Basten | 1 (1992) | — | — |
| Roberto Baggio | 1 (1993) | — | — |
| George Weah | 1 (1995) | — | — |
| Michael Owen | 1 (2001) | — | — |
| Pavel Nedvěd | 1 (2003) | — | — |
Wins by nationality :
| Nationality | Players | Wins |
| Brazil | 4 | 7 |
| France | 1 | 1 |
| England | 1 | 1 |
| Portugal | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | 1 | 1 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 |
| Liberia | 1 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 1 |
Wins by club :
| Club | Players | Wins |
| Barcelona | 4 | 5 |
| Juventus | 3 | 3 |
| Real Madrid | 2 | 2 |
| AC Milan | 2 | 2 |
| Inter Milan | 1 | 1 |
| Liverpool | 1 | 1 |