This prestigious award is made
by the French football magazine France Football and is based on a
survey of European football journalists. To and including 2007, the
award had been made 49 times.
England have won the award
six times, one of them shared--four times under Alf Ramsey, in 1965, 1966, 1969 and 1971
(shared), once under Bobby Robson, in 1987, once under Sven-Göran Ericsson, in
2005.
They have finished second
twice, under Robson in 1986 and under Glenn Hoddle in 1987. They have
ended third eight times, all but the last time shared--under Ramsey in 1960
(shared), 1968 (shared) and 1970 (shared), under Ron Greenwood in 1978 (shared),
under Greenwood and Robson in 1982 (shared), under Robson and Graham Taylor
in 1990 (shared), under Terry Venables and Hoddle in 1996 (shared) and
under Sven-Göran Eriksson in 2001. They have finished fourth three times,
sharing that spot on one occasion--under Ramsey in 1967, under Greenwood in 1979
(shared), and under Taylor in 1991. They have ended fifth four times, sharing that
place twice under Ramsey in 1961 and 1963 and occupying it alone under Eriksson
in 2003 and 2006.
Of the 49 times the award has
been made, England have finished in the top five 23 times--twice under Winterbottom, eight times under Ramsey, twice under Greenwood, once under
Greenwood/Robson, twice under Robson, once under Robson/Taylor, once under
Taylor, once under Venables/Hoddle, once under Hoddle and four times under Eriksson.
They have finished in the top
10 an additional 11 times for a total of 34 times. They have finished
outside the top 10 on 15 occasions.
England regularly finished in
the top 10 during Winterbottom's last years, climbed to the heights under
Ramsey, fell out of the top 10 under Revie, returned to the top five for a good
part of Greenwood's reign, fell out of the top 10 again for the first half of
Robson's tenure but recovered to regain several top-five placings during his
last years, fell out of the top 10 once again under Graham Taylor, regained the
top five only in the last part of Venables' reign, remained in the top five or
just outside it under Hoddle, fell again under Keegan and once again regained
the top five under Eriksson in 2001 and 2003, although falling back to 12th in 2002.
Only West Germany/Germany have
won more team of the year awards than England and only Spain have won as
many.
England
Football Online