The readers of Outside of the Boot have cast their votes across Europe’s top 4 leagues across 10 different award categories with 4 nominees under each to pick the players who they believe deserved recognition the most. The Bundesliga 2013/14 End of Season Awards were the most closely competed one, with most categories lacking a clear winner. Note that no club has more than one representative in a particular product category.

CLASS ‘A’ AWARDS

These are the highest class of awards in Outside of the Boot’s End of Season Awards, recognising the top individuals in three distinct categories. These are the individuals who can be classified as the best in their respective category this particular Bundesliga 2013/14 season.

MANAGER OF THE SEASON | Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola Bayern Munich 43% Thomas Tuchel / Markus Weinzierl Mainz / Augsburg 22% Dieter Hecking Wolfsburg 12%

Bayern Munich secured the Bundesliga title in record time with Pep Guardiola’s men blowing away the competition. Guardiola’s side were well above the rest in class and ability and it shows in the final points table. But Guardiola didn’t run away with the Bundesliga Manager of the Season award here on Outside of the Boot.

Smaller sides like Mainz & Augsburg have impressed with their performances, pushing well above their weight with both sides competing for European football. Wolfsburg have also long been challenging Champions League football taking it till the last day, led by Dieter Hecking.

PLAYER OF THE SEASON | Marco Reus

Marco Reus Borussia Dortmund 60% Philipp Lahm Bayern Munich 31% Roberto Firmino Hoffenheim 6%

Marco Reus had an excellent season with Borussia Dortmund, despite their inability to challenge Bayern Munich for the title. Reus has been high up in the top scorers chart, challenging the traditional strikers, while also leading the assists table holding off Hoffenheim’s Roberto Firmino.

Philipp Lahm has had another excellent season as Bayern Munich captain, with many suggesting he should have been higher up in 2013’s Ballon D’Or list as well. He has to settled for second place with 3% of the votes while Firmino managed only 6% of the votes.

#TALENTRADAR YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON | David Alaba

Player should have been 21 and below at the start of the season.

David Alaba Bayern Munich 34% Josip Drmic Nurnberg 26% Roberto Firmino Hoffenheim 25%

The most closely fought awards battles in our Bundesliga’s End of Season Awards saw David Alaba leading throughout but was never comfortable in the lead. Josip Drmic and Roberto Firmino were right on his trail, but one last gallop from Alaba saw him secure his position at the top with 34% of the votes.

Josip Drmic and Roberto Firmino have arguably been more important to their sides than Alaba has to Bayern Munich, but hey had to settle for 2nd & 3rd respectively with a difference of just a handful of votes between the two. Another left-back, Ricardo Rodriguez of Wolfsburg, came in next with 16% of the votes.

CLASS ‘B’ AWARDS

The second level of Outside of the Boot’s End of Season Awards are the positional awards given to players across four distinct areas. Certainly, goes without saying, no players has been nominated for more than one positional category.

GOALKEEPER OF THE SEASON

Manuel Neuer Bayern Munich 49% Marc-Andre ter Stegen Borussia Monchengladbach 29% Ralf Fahrmann Schalke 12%

Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer has run away with this award, conceding the least goals and keeping the most cleansheets as he reiterated his position as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He got nearly half the total votes, well ahead of the rest.

Young Marc-Andre ter Stegen who is set to leave his hometown club in Monchengladbach, leaves the Bundesliga as the 2nd best keeper in the league, as voted for by our readers with Schalke’s Ralf Fahrmann just ahead of Mainz’ Loris Karius.

DEFENDER OF THE SEASON

Philipp Lahm Bayern Munich 62% Ricardo Rodriguez Wolfsburg 31% Nikolce Noveski Mainz 4%

A well deserved win for Bayern’s Philipp Lahm, running away with the defender of the year trophy with 62% of the votes. Ricardo Rodriguez has impressed at Wolfsburg, but will have to settle for the runners-up spot. The only non-fullback in the top three takes third spot with a lowly 4% of the votes.

MIDFIELDER OF THE SEASON

Marco Reus Borussia Dortmund 66% Roberto Firmino Hoffenheim 12% Hakan Calhanoglu / Franck Ribery Hamburg / Bayern Munich 11%

Outside of the Boot’s Bundesliga Player of the Season, Marco Reus, takes the honours in the midfielders category as well with a significant lead at 66%. The next three played out a closely fought battle with youngsters Firmino & Calhanoglu matching up to the second runner-up at the Ballon D’Or, Franck Ribery.

FORWARD OF THE SEASON

Robert Lewandowski Borussia Dortmund 40% Andrian Ramos Hertha Berlin 26% Mario Mandzukic Bayern Munich 18%

Robert Lewandowski has had an exceptional season with Dortmund, as he leaves the club for champions Bayern, next season. The man who replaces him at Dortmund, Adrian Ramos, comes in at 2nd place with 26% of the votes and possibly Lewandowski’s team-mate, Manzdukic, completes the top three beating off pressure from Josip Drmic.

CLASS ‘C’ AWARDS

The final class of Outside of the Boot’s End of Season Awards putting players head to head based on their age, youth football and also on the basis of managerial judgement.

Transfer of the Season: Josip Drmic (Nurnberg) & Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Borussia Dortmund) – 38%

Experienced Player of the Season: Ivica Olic (Wolfsburg) – 37%

Homegrown Player of the Season: Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich) – 61%

Bayern Munich had the most number of total nominations with 8 across the 10 awards, and they managed to win 5 of those awards. Borussia Dortmund had a 100% record, winning 4 out of the 4 awards they were nominated for. Wolfsburg were the only other winners, securing the Experienced Player Award. Special mention to Philipp Lahm & Marco Reus who both won two awards each, while Roberto Firmino (like Lahm) was nominated for three awards but landed up with none.

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