Dagh Nielsen (Denmark) Rank:01

This was Dagh's third world cup appearance, and once again he made it to the final. Once again, he only lost a single game and once again, he won the top scorer trophy - this time he took back home the best defense one, too. However, this competition was different than the ones in Athens and Duesseldorf as it was considerably harder. I know that people were considered invincible before and that changed, but when someone scores a double figure average in the hardest competition in the history of the game, it begs the question: Can he even be stopped?

Gianluca Troiano (Italy) Rank:02

Milan 2012 signified the return of the Italian Stallion. The Kick Off 2 legend of the 98 consecutive undefeated matches, the only one with three consecutive world cup titles, the man with a 22% clean sheet record who leads the world cup and overall KOA defense average. Gianluca had little more to prove, except that he's still got it; he did that in the most emphatic way. Always ready to adapt his style of play according to the circumstances, this time he even willingly played with PBD on.

Gianni Torchio (Italy) Rank:03

If Gianni suffered from organizer's syndrome during the weekend, he certainly didn't show it. He arrived at his 8th consecutive semi-final undefeated, with just a couple of draws. Gianluca's defense worked well against him stopping him at six goals over two legs, an all-time low for him in a world cup semi-final. Still, a single defeat by one goal scored 30 seconds to the end in this particular competition was nothing short of a great achievement, even for him. He had the third offense in Milan; it had  been 7 years since the last time he was not among the top two scorers.

Andy Gregoris (England) Rank:04

It was said that the fourth player of this competition would in fact be the best "human' competitor. Andy qualified to the semi-finals rather comfortably, after finishing second in both rounds and defeating Mario twice in the quarter finals. He fought against the giants as equal and lost the bronze medal in overtime. The only time he blacked out was the rematch against Dagh, in which he could not score, the only time that happed to him in his 129 KOA matches.

Fabio Fichera (Italy) Rank:05

Fabio somehow managed to return to world cups even stronger than he already was three years ago in Austria. His constant tactics switching allow his players to be untroubled by their opponents, and as a result he was the second scorer of the competition with an 8.9 average. Unfortunately for him, Gianluca adapted to his style of play after the first day and beat him twice in the knockouts.

Mario Fichera (Italy) Rank:06

Mario had stayed away from world cups even longer than his brother, as his last one was in 2007 in Rome, when he had finished 5th. He remains a clinical scorer, finishing with a 6.87 average. He made it to the knockouts after surviving a very difficult group, thanks to his victory against Alkis. He had the 6th best goal average.

Alkis Polyrakis (Greece) Rank:07

Italy simply does not suit Alkis. This is his second world cup in this country, and the second time he finishes in the lowest position ever for him. Out of the 7 matches he lost, 6 were to Italians. He came very close to being out of the playoffs for the first time in 11 world cups, but he shaped up just in time to beat Lorenzo. He had the 5th best goal average in Milan, but for the first time the player who had won three best defense trophies in the past was not among the world's top 8 defenders.

Oliver Stender (Germany)  Rank:08

After a ridiculously difficult Round 1 group that had Gianni, Lorenzo Ceselli and Mario in it, Oliver managed to survive another lion's pit in the second round. Although his Sunday began with a potentially disastrous defeat to Panayotis, his victories versus Luigi and Alessandro gave him the advantage when the three players finished tied at 9 points. Just like two years ago in Duesseldorf, he could only keep up with Dagh in one of the two quarter final legs.

Lorenzo Ceselli (Italy) Rank:09

Lorenzo was at least as good as the year before in Birmingham, when he had finished 4th. However, he found himself in one of the toughest world cup groups ever, with no less than three ex world champions in it. He managed to beat Gianluca, but his defeat to Alkis combined with Mario's excellent results meant his disqualification. With the 4th defense of the tournament, he is still semi-finals material.

Panayotis Pantazis (Greece) Rank:10

It's been four years since his 4th place in Athens, an achievement that Panayotis could not repeat in Italy. His performance on the second day was sub par, as he lost 5 out of his 7 matches and therefore was out of the quarter finals for the first time in his four world cup appearances. However, he will remember this competition as he became the third player who ever beat Dagh during a world cup.

Ektoras Kapsoulis (Greece) Rank:11

This is actually a familiar place for Ektoras, as with the exception of the bronze medal in Duesseldorf he always places in positions 9-11. Despite his epic victory against Gianluca on Saturday, he lost all his games but one in the second round. He is now in the Top 10 of total points earned in world cup history.

Michael Malli (Austria) Rank:12

Michael continues to improve his skills, and he is now considered as one of the strong Kick Off 2 players. He rarely lets a game get out of hand any more; beating and finishing above the likes of Luigi and Alessandro is no small accomplishment. He lost all of his Round 2 matches, but that could have happened to the vast majority of the KOA against such opposition.

Luigi Freguglia (Italy) Rank:13

It's been a long time since the 2004 finalist joined a world cup, and the KOA has improved a lot since then. With only two tournament appearances in the past three years, Luigi just couldn't get enough form to compete against such strong opposition even though his skill are undisputable. He was 7th in both attack and defense averages.

Alessandro Verrani (Italy) Rank:14

A good world overall for Alessandro, who still needs some improvement in converting his chances in front of the goal. He actually came really close to making it to the quarter finals, finishing with the same points as Oliver and Luigi in Round 2 but their in between results did not favor him.

Frank Fuhrmann (Germany) Rank:15

After a comfortable qualification from Round 1, Frank suffered some heavy defeats in the second round, including a whooping 16-1 to Dagh. He is usually a very reliable scorer, but his offensive skills seem to abandon him sometimes. Quality win against Ektoras, against whom he remains undefeated after their two draws in Voitsberg.

Steve Camber (England) Rank:16

Same placement as last year for the only man who has never missed a world cup, and although this was a much tougher competition we do know he is capable for more. It still needs to be said that he has managed to make it to the top 16 in all 12 world cups.

Mark Williams (England) Rank:17

One of the first KOA members, Mark added the Silver Cup trophy to his collection just three years after collecting the Bronze Cup in Voitsberg. He is the first person to ever manage this achievement, and to do that he had to beat Lorenzo twice after losing to him twice in the first round!

Lorenzo Lozito (Italy) Rank:18

After a brief break in Birmingham, Lorenzo returned to the Silver Cup final, a title he had managed to win in the 2010 competition. Although this time he did not succeed, he still had the second best defensive average in the world cup conceding only 2.67 goals per game.

George Kakaletris (Greece) Rank:19

George returned to the Silver Cup after competing in the top 16 for three consecutive years. After he topped his Sunday group and eliminated Rodolfo he looked like he could go all the way, but Mark blocked his way to the final. He had the 8th best defense average.

Klaus Lederer (Austria) Rank:20

This was a fairly good performance by Klaus, who made it to his first Silver Cup semi-final before succumbing to Lorenzo's superior skills. He should aim for the Top 16 in the next competition, an achievement he came very close to reaching in Germany.

Rodolfo Martin (Spain) Rank:21

Once again, Rodolfo's 4-4-2 formation made him the top scorer among the Silver Cup competitors, but this wasn't enough. This was potentially his worst performance since finishing in 30th place in Rickmansworth, but he has the experience and the skills to bounce back.

Kostas Kakaletris (Greece) Rank:22

A typical performance by Kostas, who never ventures far from the 25th position of a world cup. He got his biggest victory ever in a world cup when he beat Cornelius 7-2, however he scored less than anyone who finished in the Top 30.

Jorn Flagtvedt (Norway) Rank:23

Luck was not on the side of the 2011 Silver Cup finalist, as he lost to Mark on overtime in the quarter finals stage. His scoring average gets a little bit better with every year that goes by.

Cornelius Henze (Germany) Rank:24

Although Cornelius plays in official Kick Off tournaments more often than most, he hasn't managed to show any considerable improvement in world cups yet. Having said that, 24th is the highest position he's ever been at. I still think he is capable of going higher than that.

Thorsten Butschke (Germany) Rank:25

Thorsten appeared to be having a very off day in the Silver Cup, as he ended up being last in his group with five defeats. However, he managed to disqualify the fifth of the other group, Flavio, and end up finishing in a respectable position even though he had the second worse offense in the SC.

Helmut Hausmann (Austria) Rank:26

To his surprise, Helmut brought back a trophy (David Vs Goliath) to Vienna thanks to his draw against the legend Gianluca! Although it didn't change anything for him in the competition, it is still the highlight of his career so far.

Jorg Panhorst (Germany) Rank:27

10 positions below the year before, when he'd won the Silver Cup in England, Jorg just wasn't himself in Milan. Things could have been different for him on Sunday if he had managed to beat Cornelius in the group stage, which he didn't manage even though he was undefeated to him before that weekend. This was his 10th Kick Off 2 World Cup!

Peter Sommer (Germany) Rank:28

This is the first time in eight world cups that Peter manages to enter the world's Top 30. A victory against George is probably his best result ever in the KOA.

Michele Lorenzetti (Italy) Rank:29

Michele was the rookie of the year; after all, not many people started in the KOA by beating Jorn 5-1! That was not his only good result of the weekend either, as he also beat Jorg and Flavio. Dare I say that we have another future Italian superplayer in sight? Afer all, Fabio and Sandro played much worse in their first world cups.

Flavio Zurla (Italy) Rank:30

Two draws against Frank are the best results that Flavio will remember from this competition. He could have made it to the Silver Cup's quarter finals if he had won one of his two draws against Helmut and Rodolfo.

Fabio Ragionieri (Italy) Rank:31

Making it to the Silver Cup in your first world cup is an achievement on its own, so Fabio should be pleased. It was his two victories against Klaus that helped him to that end.

Dino Dini (England) Rank:32

There is no way I can describe what it felt to finally have Dino Dini among us during a world cup weekend. It was a privilege that we've been dreaming of for more than 20 years. Dino was exceptionally friendly and patient while 40 people wanted a word or a match with him. I sincerely hope that he enjoyed himself, that he felt how much his creation meant to us all and that he will attend some more in the future.

Wolf Heyer (Germany) Rank:33

After many years of battling to avoid the Game of Shame, and not always successfully, Wolf apparently decided that enough was enough! First he did his job to make it to the Silver Cup by gaining 8 points in his games against Fabio and Marco, but in the end he was in the Bronze again due to Fabio's wins against Klaus. That suited him just fine, as he brought back the title and became the second player with both a Shirt of Shame and a Bronze Cup trophy in his possession after Thorsten. Such was his improvement, that only six players in the past managed to earn more Ranking points in a world cup than he did.

Thomas Niekamp (Germany) Rank:34

As if he is always destined to follow Wolf closely, after beating him in the Game of Shame the year before Thomas this time was below Wolf after finishing second in the Bronze. Even the title was within his reach, but he lost it by getting only one point from his two matches against Marco Mazzaglia. Just like Wolf, he made it to the Top 10 in the 'Most Ranking Points Gained in a WC' category.

Marco Mazzaglia (Italy) Rank:35

Marco is one of these players that you just know he's got what it takes to improve if he joins a few tournaments. He had some good results against Silver Cup players such as Kostas and Michele. The funny thing is that he had also played in the first Milan tournament in 2003, the only one Dino Dini had attended before this year! So it seems that he only comes when Dino is around.

Massimo Marcosignori (Italy) Rank:36

Massimo seemed to do well against other Italian newbies. He managed to beat Andrea, Gianluca P, Denny and Marco Butini.

Marco Butini (Italy) Rank:37

Marco went home with five victories against other Italian newbies. He also had three draws (!) against Wolf!

Andrea Rosso (Italy) Rank:38

Andrea also had five victories in this world cup, but that was mostly because he got to play against Gianluca Panareo four times. At least he will remember playing (and beating) the great Dino Dini.

Gianluca Panareo (Italy) Rank:39

With only three goals scored and 194 conceded, Gianluca was the unofficial shirt of shame winner this year. His 20-0 defeat to Dagh was a record, but he appeared to enjoy himself during the weekend nevertheless.

Denny Menato (Italy) Rank:40

There isn't much one can write about someone who did not show up on the second day of the tournament. It would have been interesting to see if he could beat Gianluca in the Game of Shame, but that wasn't meant to happen.