View source for RSSSF

{{Short description|International organization collecting football stats}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox website
| name           = Rec.Sport.Soccer<br> Statistics Foundation<br>(RSSSF)
| logo           = RSSSFlogo.png
| logo_size      = 200 
| url            = {{URL|https://www.rsssf.org/|rsssf.org}}
| language       = English
| owner          =
| author         = {{Hlist|Lars Aarhus|Kent Hedlundh|Karel Stokkermans}}
| launch_date    = {{Start date and age|1994|1}}, as ''Northern European Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation'' (NERSSSF)
| current_status = Active
}}
The '''Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation''' (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about [[association football]]. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the world.

==Website==
The RSSSF website contains football-related statistics in the form of lists without commentary and it is maintained by volunteer contributors.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finkelstein |first=Daniel |date=15 November 2003 |title=Weighting in vain for Fifa's ranking aficionados |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/fink_tank/article1017246.ece |access-date=14 March 2024 |website=The Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715225149/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/fink_tank/article1017246.ece |archive-date=15 July 2011 }}</ref> It is considered one of "the most complete" publicly available statistical football databases in the world, and has virtually every piece of historical information.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Witzig |first=Richard |title=The Global Art of Soccer |publisher=CusiBoy Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=0-977-66880-0 |location=New Orleans |pages=418}}</ref>

This enterprise, according to its founders, was created in January 1994<ref name="Groot2008">{{cite book|author=Loek Groot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHQnlF2LJawC&pg=PA5|title=Economics, Uncertainty and European Football: Trends in Competitive Balance|date=25 January 2008|publisher=[[Edward Elgar Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-78100-823-2|page=5|access-date=10 July 2021|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122130903/https://books.google.com/books?id=fHQnlF2LJawC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}</ref> by three regulars of the [[Big 8 (Usenet)#Hierarchies|Rec]].Sport.Soccer (RSS) [[Usenet]] newsgroup: Lars Aarhus, Kent Hedlundh, and Karel Stokkermans. It was originally known as the "North European Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation", but the geographical reference was dropped as its membership from other regions grew.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

The RSSSF has members and contributors from all around the world and has spawned seven spin-off projects to more closely follow the leagues of that project's home country. The spin-off projects are dedicated to [[Football in Albania|Albania]], [[Football in Brazil|Brazil]], [[Football in Denmark|Denmark]], [[Football in Norway|Norway]], [[Football in Romania|Romania]], [[Football in Uruguay|Uruguay]], [[Football in Venezuela|Venezuela]] and [[Football in Egypt|Egypt]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} In November 2002, the Polish service 90minut.pl became the official branch of RSSSF Poland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=O stronie |url=http://www.90minut.pl/strona.php?id=o_stronie |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=90minut.pl|language=pl}}</ref>

==Player of the Year award==
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Player of the Year Award was an annual football award presented by the organisation. First presented in 1992, the readers of the newsgroup voted in a format similar to that of the ''[[France Football]]'' [[Ballon d'Or]] award. It recognised the best player in the world and was discontinued after the 2005 edition.<ref name="award">{{Cite web |title=Rec.sport.soccer Player of the Year Award |url=https://www.rsssf.org/rssbest/rsspoy-overview.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705005622/http://www.rsssf.com/rssbest/rsspoy-overview.html |archive-date=5 July 2022 |access-date=29 June 2022 |publisher=RSSSF}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=March 2024}}

{{col-begin}}{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Award winners<ref name="award" />
! scope="col" |Year
! scope="col" |Rank
! scope="col" |Player
! scope="col" |Team
! scope="col" |Votes
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1992
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|{{flagicon|NED}} '''[[Marco van Basten]]'''
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} '''[[AC Milan]]'''
|align="center"|'''207'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|BUL}} [[Hristo Stoichkov]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]
|align="center"|87
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|DEN}} [[Peter Schmeichel]]
|{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]]
|align="center"|62
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1993
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|ITA}} [[Roberto Baggio]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]'''
|align="center"|'''407'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Romário]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]
|align="center"|295
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|NED}} [[Dennis Bergkamp]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Inter Milan]]
|align="center"|178
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1994
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Romário]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]'''
|align="center"|'''269'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|BUL}} [[Hristo Stoichkov]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]
|align="center"|254
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|'''{{flagicon|ITA}}''' [[Paolo Maldini]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[AC Milan]]
|align="center"|158
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1995
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|Liberia}} [[George Weah]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[AC Milan]]'''
|align="center"|'''153'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|'''{{flagicon|ITA}}''' [[Paolo Maldini]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[AC Milan]]
|align="center"|102
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|NED}} [[Patrick Kluivert]]
|{{fbaicon|NED}} [[AFC Ajax|Ajax]]
|align="center"|88
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1996
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)|Ronaldo]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]'''
|align="center"|'''348'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|ENG}} [[Alan Shearer]]
|{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]]
|align="center"|241
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|GER}} [[Matthias Sammer]]
|{{fbaicon|GER}} [[Borussia Dortmund]]
|align="center"|215
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1997
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)|Ronaldo]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Inter Milan]]'''
|align="center"|'''276'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Zinedine Zidane]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]
|align="center"|129
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|ARG}} [[Gabriel Batistuta]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[ACF Fiorentina|Fiorentina]]
|align="center"|75
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1998
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Zinedine Zidane]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]'''
|align="center"|'''335'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|ARG}} [[Gabriel Batistuta]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[ACF Fiorentina|Fiorentina]]
|align="center"|175
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Lilian Thuram]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Parma Calcio 1913|Parma]]
|align="center"|136
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |1999
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Rivaldo]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]'''
|align="center"|'''536'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|ENG}} [[David Beckham]]
|{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]]
|align="center"|313
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|UKR}} [[Andriy Shevchenko]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[AC Milan]]
|align="center"|186
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |2000
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|POR}} [[Luís Figo]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]'''
|align="center"|'''648'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Zinedine Zidane]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]
|align="center"|535
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Rivaldo]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]
|align="center"|272
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |2001
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|ENG}} [[Michael Owen]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]'''
|align="center"|'''288'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|POR}} [[Luís Figo]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]
|align="center"|234
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|SPA}} [[Raúl (footballer)|Raúl]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]
|align="center"|216
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |2002
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)|Ronaldo]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]'''
|align="center"|'''447'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}}''' [[Roberto Carlos]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]
|align="center"|371
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Zinedine Zidane]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]
|align="center"|341
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |2003
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|{{flagicon|CZE}} '''[[Pavel Nedvěd]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]'''
|align="center"|'''818'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Thierry Henry]]
|{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]]
|align="center"|540
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Zinedine Zidane]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]
|align="center"|350
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |2004
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Ronaldinho]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]'''
|align="center"|'''437'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|UKR}} [[Andriy Shevchenko]]
|{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[AC Milan]]
|align="center"|329
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|POR}} [[Deco]]
|{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]
|align="center"|297
|-
! colspan="5" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |2005
|scope="row" style="background-color: gold" |'''1st'''
|'''{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Ronaldinho]]'''
|'''{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]'''
|align="center"|'''482'''
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: silver" | 2nd
|{{flagicon|ENG}} [[Frank Lampard]]
|{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]]
|align="center"|281
|-
|scope="row" style="background-color: #cc9966" | 3rd
|{{flagicon|ENG}} [[Steven Gerrard]]
|{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]
|align="center"|191
|}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Wins by player
! scope="col" |Player
! scope="col" |Winner
! scope="col" |Second place
! scope="col" |Third place
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Brazil}} [[Ronaldo (Brazilian footballer)|Ronaldo]]
|3 (1996, 1997, 2002)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Brazil}} [[Ronaldinho]]
|2 (2004, 2005)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|France}} [[Zinedine Zidane]]
|1 (1998)
|2 (1997, 2000)
|2 (2002, 2003)
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Brazil}} [[Romário]]
|1 (1994)
|1 (1993)
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Portugal}} [[Luís Figo]]
|1 (2000)
|1 (2001)
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Brazil}} [[Rivaldo]]
|1 (1999)
|align="center"|—
|1 (2000)
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Netherlands}} [[Marco van Basten]]
|1 (1992)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Italy}} [[Roberto Baggio]]
|1 (1993)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Liberia}} [[George Weah]]
|1 (1995)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|England}} [[Michael Owen]]
|1 (2001)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagicon|Czech Republic}} [[Pavel Nedvěd]]
|1 (2003)
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Wins by nationality
! scope="col" |Nationality
! scope="col" |Players
! scope="col" |Wins
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|Brazil}}
|align="center" |4
|align="center" |7
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|France}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|England}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|Portugal}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|Italy}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|Netherlands}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|Liberia}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{flagu|Czech Republic}}
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Wins by club
! scope="col" |Club
! scope="col" |Players
! scope="col" |Wins
|-
! scope="row" |{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]]
| align="center" |4
| align="center" |5
|-
! scope="row" |{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Juventus FC|Juventus]]
| align="center" |3
| align="center" |3
|-
! scope="row" |{{fbaicon|SPA}} [[Real Madrid CF|Real Madrid]]
| align="center" |2
| align="center" |2
|-
! scope="row" |{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[AC Milan]]
| align="center" |2
| align="center" |2
|-
! scope="row" |{{fbaicon|ITA}} [[Inter Milan]]
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|-
! scope="row" |{{fbaicon|ENG}} [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]
| align="center" |1
| align="center" |1
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}

== See also ==

* [[Association of Football Statisticians]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website}}

{{Association football}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Association football websites]]
[[Category:Usenet]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1994]]
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1994]]