08:13 | Lima, Jul. 29 (ANDINA).
Peruvian left winger Juan Manuel Vargas, who currently plays for Italian Serie A club Fiorentina, was voted the fifth most popular footballer in the world in 2009, according to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).
The 26-year-old Peru international received 44,338 votes from IFFHS users who named Honduras striker Carlos Alberto Pavon the world's most popular footballer amongst currently active players with 195,182 votes.
In South America, the
online poll put Vargas in first place, followed by Brazil's Alexandre Raphael Meschini "Alex" with 39.158 votes, Ecuador's Jose Francisco Cevallos (19,632), and Uruguay's Antonio Pacheco (17,615).
According to IFFHS, other popular footballers include Turkey's Arda Turan (91,887 votes), Egypt's Mohamed Aboutreika (84,470), Poland's Michal Zewlakow (53,939), Saudi Arabia's Yasser Al Qahtani (35,499), China's Li Jinyu (35,140), and Russia's Andrey Arshavin (20,651).
(END) EEP/LVT
Published: 7/29/2010