BERLIN: Former Germany and Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm has been voted the country’s top player for the first time in his final season before retiring.

The 33-year-old Lahm, who ended his playing career in May, topped the poll of sports journalists by Kicker magazine.

Lahm was honoured for helping Bayern to a fifth successive Bundesliga success, giving the defender eight titles overall. In an illustrious career, Lahm also won the Champions League once, the German Cup six times and led Germany to World Cup glory in 2014.

Kicker said Lahm received 242 votes, 50 more than Toni Kroos, who helped Real Madrid to the Champions League and La Liga double, with Borussia Dortmund’s 31-goal Bundesliga top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finishing third.

Eligible for the award are German players abroad and players in Germany.

Lahm said: “It’s a real honour and I’m truly pleased with it. I think the journalists in the vote have watched me for my entire career.

“History shows that it is incredibly tough for a defender to be named Footballer of the Year because over the course of a year there is normally always a forward who steals the headlines up front.”

Lahm succeeds his former Bayern and Germany team-mate Jerome Boateng in winning the award after the centre-back claimed it last year.Julian Nagelsmann, who turned 30 on Sunday, was voted coach of the season for leading Hoffenheim into the Champions League.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2017