Alkis Polyrakis (Greece) Rank:01

The man who liked to fancy himself as a modern day Captain Ahab, but actually bore more resemblance to the likes of Sylvester, Iznogoud, Gargamel and Wile E. Coyote, finally succeeded in returning to the Kick Off 2 throne, twelve whole years after the first competition. During this period, there were times when he got relatively close to his goal, and others when he made himself a fool of such dimensions, that he should have been required to dress like a jester, complete with silly hat and curled-toe shoes. Now that his Sisyphean struggle finally came to an end, he will finally stop pestering people with his tales of ye olde times. Or so they think.

Andy Gregoris (England) Rank:02

Andy's achievement of being the first man to eliminate Gianni in a quarter final knockout match is nothing short of impressive, and a veritable testament to his continuing improvement. He grinds his opponents on his wheels of torrential attack, until they are reduced to dust. Yet the finals were surprisingly low on goals, with a lot of anxiety on both ends, and they were decided on details. It wasn't meant to be for him in Austria, but his chance can't be that far along the road.

Steve Camber (England) Rank:03

This is the third time that Steve makes it to the semi-finals, and his first world cup medal! After a mediocre performance in the first round, he managed to reach the top four without losing any of his first 8 matches on Sunday. Although he lost both his games against Mark and Christopher on Saturday, his experience helped him prevail against them when it really mattered. He had the fourth best defense in the competition.

Christopher Durrans (Norway) Rank:04

Just when you think that there are no more good Kick Off 2 players out there, and that newbies can only serve as cannon fodder in world cups, there comes a Scandinavian to disprove that theory. Christopher caused a sensation in this tournament, starting with beating the likes of Oliver, Mark, and Steve on Saturday, and then prevailing against Andy in the second round. Although he couldn't repeat the feat in the semis, it is evident that the KOA gained another medal contestant in its ranks.

Gianni Torchio (Italy) Rank:05

The last time he was in Austria, Gianni's game was as immensely rich and eloquently executed as Wagnerian opera, as he became -and still is- the only player who ever won a world cup with nothing but victories (26/26). Nothing in the first 25 games of the competition indicated that this year was going to be any different, but then Andy put an end to his 15 consecutive wins in quarter finals. He is the first who wins the top scorer & best defense awards without actually claiming the world title as well.

Lorenzo Ceselli (Italy) Rank:06

Lorenzo's performance in the first round was quite below his standards, with plenty of draws, some shocking defeats and a goal average under two goals per game. Few people expected him to survive a day 2 group that had Oliver and Alkis in it, but he picked up his game just in time to shock Oliver with a draw and a defeat. He had the fifth best defense in Voitsberg.

Michael Malli (Austria) Rank:07

Michael saw in Voitsberg the chance to become the second Austrian to reach the quarter finals stage of a world cup, and he did not let it go amiss. At times his offense seemed to be on fire, like when he scored 8 goals against each of Christopher and Oliver, and at others it appeared to stop working altogether, but in the end one could say that he finished as high as he could have.

Mark Williams (England)  Rank:08

After a terrific first day, during which Mark looked capable of competing for one of the medals, he appeared to run out of fuel on Sunday. Failing to beat Steve Camber, whom he had effortlessly crashed 5-0 the day before, he had to play against Alkis in the quarter finals and therefore could not proceed any further. Still, 8th place is his best position ever by far, and we should remember that this is the same player who had finished 32nd just a couple of years ago. His Kick Off ability is like the British Empire or the British Constitution - a thing that has grown to its present importance.

Oliver Stender (Germany) Rank:09

One blackout is all it takes to ruin a man's world cup, and in Oliver's case that happened in the second game against Lorenzo. He really had the potential to go very far in this competition, as is evident by the fact that he managed to beat all three top players! At least he brought the Silver Cup back home, and he was the third scorer of the tournament.

Klaus Lederer (Austria) Rank:10

Klaus is slowly but surely becoming a better player year by year. In Voitsberg, he defeated two quarter finalists -Michael and Lorenzo- and he made it to the Silver Cup final for the first time ever.

Rodolfo Martin (Spain) Rank:11

Could Rodolfo have made it to the world's top 8 this year? Evidence suggested so, as he drew twice against Michael in Round 2, but a painful defeat to Helmut cost him his place.

Jorn Flagtvedt (Norway) Rank:12

Jorn had his moments in this competition, the greatest of which was the victory against Christopher in the Norwegian derby. If he hadn't lost to Michele, he would have finished higher in the group and day 2 would have been much different for him. As it happened, he had to face his compatriot and Andy in the group, as well as Oliver in the knockouts.

Jorg Panhorst (Germany) Rank:13

Jorg will remember this world cup mainly because he finally managed to beat Rodolfo. Although their previous 7 matches were always close, he had never managed to do it before. Behind Oliver, he had the second best defense among those who did not make it to the quarter finals.

Helmut Hausmann (Austria) Rank:14

Unlike most players in the crazy world cup, Helmut's performance appeared to be pretty much on par with what we are used to from him. He still needs to work on his offense, as only Michael Fuchs and Dino had a worse average than he did.

Michele Lorenzetti (Italy) Rank:15

Michelone ended up competing in the preliminary round of shame because he lost too many matches on a single goal. Namely to Klaus, Rodolfo, Jorg and Christopher on Day 1 as well as Helmut on Sunday.

Peter Sommer (Germany) Rank:16

Peter did well against Austrians in this world cup, as he beat Michael Fuchs and drew against Klaus and Helmut! Unfortunately for him, he struggled against virtually everyone else.

Michael Fuchs (Austria) Rank:17

With all his organizational duties, Michael was so busy during the world cup weekend that beavers hung their heads in shame when he walked by. His reasonable goal in this competition was to avoid last place, and he succeeded, picking up a couple of impressive draws against Lorenzo and Klaus along the way.

Dino Dini (England) Rank:18

Way to show respect, Kick Off Association! The maker of the game shows up, and we repay him by giving him a Shirt of Shame? Oh well, that was the unfortunate consequence of the complete lack of poor players in this world cup. Thank God Dino didn't mind the tease at all, and promised to come back next year for more.