Del Bosque feted, six Spaniards make team of year

ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) –

Spain's coach Vicente Del Bosque (R) receives the FIFA Men's Coach of the year award in Zurich on January 7, 2013

Spain’s coach Vicente Del Bosque (R) receives the FIFA Men’s Coach of the year award from Former Brazilian national coach Felipe Scolari during the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich on January 7, 2013.

Spain handler Vicente del Bosque was Monday named coach of the year for 2012, seeing off competition from Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho and former Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola at a FIFA gala in Zurich.

World and European champion Del Bosque won the honour for the first time having lost out to Mourinho two years earlier.

“It is an honour to represent Spanish football and the Spanish national side,” said Del Bosque.

“I thank all the players – they make us (the coaches) better.”

Six Spaniards meanwhile made the team of the year for 2012 unveiled at a FIFA gala in Zurich on Monday, while of the 11 selected, Barcelona and Real Madrid provided five each.

The ‘Dream Team’ as selected by FIFPro, the players’ union, saw Atletico Madrid’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao the only player to play for another club selected as La Liga made a clean sweep.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas made it despite being recently dropped by his club, marshalling a defence comprising Brazilians Dani Alves of Barca and Real’s Marcelo with Real’s Sergio Ramos and the Catalan club’s Gerard Pique in central defence.

Barca and Spain pair Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta were selected in midfield along with Real Madrid strongman Xabi Alonso, with Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, Ballon d’Or rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Falcao in a three-pronged attack.

Spain had six players in the 2011 line-up while Barca had five and Real four.

Losing out compared with the 2011 selection were Manchester United pair Nemanja Vidic of Serbia and England striker Wayne Rooney, replaced this time by Marcelo and Falcao.

Messi was later hoping to see off competition from Ronaldo and Iniesta as the 25-year-old sought to become the first player to win a fourth straight Ballon d’Or accolade.