ANDRES INIESTA (SPAIN/FC BARCELONA) 2012, 2013
IFFHS AWARDS – THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYMAKER 2012 and 2013 : Andres INIESTA (Spain/FC Barcelona)
PRESENTATION
Andres Iniesta, born 11 may 1984 in Fuentealbilla, is widely considered to be one of the best midfielders of all time during his fantastic career in Barcelona where he composed with Xavi and Lionel Messi one of the best Midfields in Football History. Iniesta currently plays for Japanese Club Vissel Kobe (since 2018, 9 goals in 38 matches) and keeps on to seduct the spectators with his extraordinary technic.
He went from Albacete to Barcelona in 1996 to introduce the Masia, Barcelona’s youth Academy. He impressed quickly and won with Spain the UEFA Euro U17 in 2001 and the UEFA Euro U19 in 2002 ! Iniesta made his first-team debut aged 18 in 2002 and played regularly from 2004 to 2018 in the FC Barcelona Dream Teams ! He played 674 matches (57 goals) with FC Barcelona and won 9 La Liga titles (2004/05, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18), 6 Copa del Rey (2008/09, 2011/12, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18), 7 Supercopa de Espana (2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016). Iniesta won two historic trebles in 2009 and 2015, and especially 4 UEFA Champions League titles (2005/06, 2008/09, 2010/11, 2014/15), 3 UEFA Supercups (2009, 2011, 2015) and 3 FIFA Club World Cups (2009, 2011, 2015) !
22 years FC Barcelona (he was the team captain the three last years) brought him 35 Trophies and made him as the most successful Spanish Player of all time.
IFFHS Award 2012
IFFHS Award 2013
After two UEFA Euro titles with the youth national team of Spain, Iniesta made his international debut with the A Team in 2006. He played 131 matches (13 goals) with Spain, winning the greatest World trophies : the FIFA World Cup 2010 scoring the only goal in the final, the UEFA Euro 2008 and the UEFA Euro 2012 ! He was named Player of the Tournament in 2012 and took part of the Tournament Team at each event !
Second in 2010, fourth in 2011 and third in 2012 at the FIFA Ballon d’Or, Andres Iniesta was crowned in 2012 and 2013 as THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYMAKER by IFFHS, the UEFA Best Player of the Year 2012 and was nominated in the FIFA FIFPro World team from 2009 to 2017 !