Oceania Player of the Year Awards

Defenders have dominated the OFC Player of the Year Awards for 2009 with New Zealand's Ivan Vicelich and Ali Riley picking up top honours in the men's and women's categories.

An announcement of the winners was made prior to the OFC Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday morning (local time).

Vicelich earns recognition as Oceania's top male footballer following a successful year for club and country. The central defender�s highlights include FIFA World Cup qualification with the All Whites and captaining Auckland City FC to an O-League title and fifth-place finish at the FIFA Club World Cup in December last year.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for the 33-year-old veteran who put a halt to his international career mid-way through 2008, only to step in for an injured Ryan Nelson at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009.

Speaking from the All Whites team base in Johannesburg, Vicelich says joining the elite list of winners means a lot.

�It certainly has a lot of legends on it, so to accept this award is a great honour for me,� he says.

Having returned to New Zealand after an eight-year professional stint in the Netherlands with Roda JC and RKC Waalwijk, he says it has been a dream run.

�Coming back to New Zealand seems to have been the greatest move I�ve made in my career. It�s great to be back at Kiwitea Street and doing well on the Oceania front. And to qualify for the World Cup is one of the greatest moments in New Zealand sport.�

Vicelich, who has earned 66 caps and scored six goals for his country, is now fully focused on the FIFA World Cup campaign but says he is unsure of his future footballing endeavours.

In contrast, American-born Ali Riley is just at the beginning of what looks to be a promising career.

The 22-year-old fullback has been an integral part of the New Zealand women�s team since her debut in 2007 and helped the Football Ferns to a credible fourth-place finish at the 2009 Cyprus Cup.

Riley, who has a Kiwi father and Hawaiian mother, also had a breakthrough season in the US as outstanding performances for W-League champions Pali Blues earned her a professional contract in the 2010 WPS League with FC Gold Pride, based in Santa Clara, California.

She credits her experiences with the Football Ferns as a key factor to her success.

�Playing for New Zealand has definitely helped me to achieve my dream of becoming a professional,� says Riley, who also captains her Stanford University side.

�I have to thank coaches John [Herdman] and Tony [Readings] and the management staff but also of course my Football Ferns teammates who are just as deserving of this award. Hopefully I can help pave the way for more girls from Oceania to achieve their goals in football, particularly playing in the WPS or other professional leagues around the world.�

The OFC Player of the Year award has been made annually since 1988 with players from Australia and New Zealand dominating the list.

This year voting was open to members of the OFC Executive Committee as well as Presidents, General Secretaries, national team coaches and technical directors from each of OFC�s 11 Member Associations.

OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas says it is important for Oceania�s best to be recognised.

�On behalf of OFC, I would like to congratulate our two winners for their achievements. Not only have they shown tremendous aptitude and commitment on the field, but they have also displayed qualities off the field that make them true ambassadors of our game.�

Ivan joins the esteemed list of former winners of this prestigious award listed below:

Year

Player

Club

1988