LONDON: Spanish midfielder Xavi, who orchestrated Spain's World Cup triumph, was named as World Soccer's Player of the Year Thursday. The world champion completed a Spanish double by being named Team of the Year. In a vote of the 50-year-old magazine's international readers, Portuguese Jose Mourinho was named as World Manager of the Year and Germany's Thomas Muller as the Young Player of the Year. Xavi, 29, who plays for Barcelona, won 25.8 percent of the votes cast to finish ahead of last year's winner and club team mate Lionel Messi of Argentina, who polled 24.1 percent. Wesley Sneijder of European champion Inter Milan and World Cup runner-up Netherlands was third with 17.3 percent. Xavi is the first Spaniard to win the World Player award, now in its 29th year. Spain won the Team of the Year with an overwhelming 63.3 percent of the vote, ahead of Inter Milan (16.5) and Barcelona (5.3). It was not a clean sweep for the Spaniards, however, as Mourinho, who has since moved to Real Madrid, won the manager's award for the third time following his Champions League triumph and Italian Cup and League double with Inter Milan. He polled 48.3 percent of the vote, ahead of Vicente Del Bosque (Spain) and Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay). ‘Cup qualifier fixed' A defendant in the trial of four men accused of match-fixing across Europe claimed in Germany Wednesday that the group bribed a UEFA referee to manipulate the result of a 2010 World Cup qualifier. The defendant told the court here that Bosnian referee Novo Panic, who has since been banned for life by European football's governing body UEFA, helped fix the result of a qualifier between Liechtenstein and Finland in 2009. “We manipulated the match by using Novo Panic,” defendant Marijo C. told the trial which threatens to tarnish European football. The defendant did not say whether the bribe was successful during the four-hour hearing. The Group 4 game on Sept. 9, 2009 in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, ended in a 1-1 draw as Panic awarded a 73rd-minute penalty to Finland and sent a Liechtenstein player off after the hosts equalised. Germany went on to win Group 4 and neither team qualified for the 2010 World Cup. The four men on trial here, whose identification is protected under German law, are accused of fixing 32 football matches in several European countries. If found guilty they could be jailed for up to 10 years. The quartet have been in custody since November 2009, when German police made a total of 15 arrests. The trial continues. Jennings denies wrongdoing Motherwell player Steve Jennings has denied wrongdoing after pundits revealed they were probing irregular betting patterns relating to the midfielder's dismissal in Tuesday's match at Hearts. Jennings was sent-off seven minutes from time in a 2-1 defeat by Hearts at Fir Park for apparently using foul language at referee Stevie O'Reilly after the official refused to give a penalty when Alan Gow tumbled over in the box. Britain's Press Association reported several bets were placed on a red card being shown including one from a new account opened in Liverpool.
