You're reading: Euro 2012 blog: OMG! Isn’t he gorgeous?

Euro 2012 increased awareness among the female population of Ukraine of the terms like offside, dribbling and headwork. It may have showed what ladies are capable of when presented with an opportunity to drink unlimited volumes of beer. But what it failed to change is one peculiar aspect of the way we watch football: looking out for the cutest player on the field.

Oleksandr Shovkovsky might be a mediocre
goal-keeper, but we still love him ‘cos he’s cute. Some of my
ex-classmates who couldn’t tell you how long a football match lasts,
had posters of the guy in their bedrooms.

Of course, the world has plenty of other heroes
to go hysterical about. There is Englishman David Beckham, who has
been voted the sexiest in the world, Portuguese Christiano Ronaldo
and a few other good-looking football stars. They have plenty of
female attention and contracts to advertize shampoos and perfume,
and flaunt their sexiness while they are at it. Some of them took it
further by starting their own brands.

To make our own investment into the crazy chase
of hottest footballers, Kyiv Post decided to make its own ranking of
the most attractive football player during Euro 2012. The ranking is
totally subjective and is based on staff preferences (not just
female), and impromptu surveys on Facebook and Vkontakte.

So here we go. Meet the sexiest.

9th
place:

Damien Perquis, Poland

Perquis is
a French-born
Polish
footballer who currently plays for FC
Sochaux-Montbeliard as a center back. Perquis, 28,
hasn’t had any commercial benefits from being cute (as far as we
know), though we here at the Kyiv Post think that he has a big
potential. 

8th
place

Thomas Müller, Germany

Muller
is a versatile German football player. He plays as a striker, a
central defender or on either wing for Bayern Munich and the German
national team. He is an active participant of various charity events
in Germany. Muller, 22,
is married to a model already, so his female admirers have missed
their chance, but they can still get aesthetic
pleasure from
watching him
virtuously playing football.

7th
place

Andrew Thomas “Andy”
Carroll, England

Andy is an English
football player. He started his professional career in Newcastle
United. He scored
17 goals in 39 appearances to help Newcastle, now he plays for
Liverpool and English national team as a forward. Carroll, 23,
lives with his girlfriend and has a daughter from a previous
relationship. He might have had some contracts as a model, but we
haven’t found them yet.
But we don’t think ad makers would miss him.

6th
place

Gerard Piqué, Spain

Pique is a central
defender who plays for FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team.
Kyiv Post is in good company as far as appreciation of this player
goes – the famous pop singer Shakira also appears to like him,
otherwise why would she date him?

Moreover, Pique, 25,
has already stared in her music video Waka Waka (This time for
Africa). Shakira has spoken publicly about their relationship and
has called her cute athletic boyfriend “sunshine.” Gossipmongers
even say they two are planning to get married soon.

5th
place

Yevhen Konoplyanka, Ukraine

Konoplyanka is one of
the youngest players in the Ukrainian national team. He made it to
Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk) at age 16 is still there for
6 years years
on. He was the one to assist Andriy ‘Sheva’ Shevchenko in his
second goal in the match against Sweden. Despite his young age, he
is already married. His wife was among those who undressed for a
photoshoot in Maxim men’s magazine in support of Ukraine’s national
team on the eve of the Euro.

4th
place

Christiano Ronaldo,
Portugal

Ronaldo plays as a
striker or winger for Real Madrid and is the captain of the
Portuguese national team. Ronaldo, 27,
became the most expensive footballer in history after moving from
Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth 131.6 million
dollars. Ronaldo is the sex icon of football. Thousands of his fans
follow him around the world, while he does charity, stars in
football promotion videos and feature movies, or simply plays
football. His public page has over 10 million fans on Facebook. He
has a son and currently dates Russian model Irina Shayak.

 

3d place

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden

Ukrainian women loved
the Swedes. And despite the fact that captain of their national
team and striker for Milan Ibrahimovich is not your classic Swedish
type, Kyiv Post readers still ticked him as one of the best-looking
players for Sweden (and in principle). Ibra, 30,
has already got a bench of children with his long-term partner
Helena Seger. He is a star of many TV ads, has a contract with Nike
and an exclusive right to create different products under his own
brand Zlatan.

2nd
place

Andriy Yarmolenko, Ukraine

Yarmolenko, 22,
is a Dynamo Kyiv footballer, he also plays as a striker for the
Ukrainian national team. He is already married to his long-term
girlfriend Inna and is virtually unknown to the world outside
football. However, Kyiv Post readers predict his career will go high
outside of football. He did well in the games, and also won the
hearts of many female football fans.

1st
place

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine

No doubts that
Ukrainian teams’ captain Sheva deserves his first place in all the
rankings after his winning goals in the Euro 2012 match against
Sweden. And that’s exactly how the readers voted. He is the
third-highest goalscorer in Champions League history with 58 goals
and 48 goals with the Ukrainian national team. He’s got lots of
sports awards and a prominent non-sport career. Sheva is 35
and is married to American model Kristen Pazik. They have two
sons and are expecting a third child. He is also close friends with
the famous designer Giorgio Armanai and has opened two boutiques in
Kyiv. The legendary Ukrainian footballer has already announced that
he is going to leave big football after Euro 2012, but we will love
him still. 

Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected]