SAN FRANCISCO — The accolades keep rolling in for Clint Dempsey, who was named as Fútbol de Primera's 2012 Player of the Year on Wednesday.
The award, voted on by 183 US journalists and presented by the famed Spanish-language radio station, has recognized the best US men's national team player every year for the past 22 years. To be eligible for the award, a player must have played in a minimum of three games for the US national team in the calendar year.
Dempsey finished off a career year with Fulham, where he was named the club's Player of the Year for 2011-2012 and came in fourth in English Premier League Player of the Year voting, before securing a move to Tottenham at the end of the summer transfer window, where he has tallied three goals in 12 league apperances to date.
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The 28-year-old handily beat out AS Roma midfielder Michael Bradley and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard for the award, thanks in large part to his six goals in nine apperances for the USMNT, five of which came in World Cup qualifying.
The 2012 award is the third for Dempsey, who also claimed the US Soccer Athlete of the Year award. Dempsey and LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan have now combined to win the FDP award in 10 of the last 11 years. Other notable winners of the award include two-time winners Kasey Keller and Eric Wynalda, as well as US soccer legends Claudio Reyna and Cobi Jones among others.
