Diego voted player of the year in Germany

Werder Bremen's Brazilian midfielder Diego has been voted Germany's outfield player of the year by his fellow professionals.

Diego, who moved to Werder for six million euros ($8.07 million) from Porto last year, polled 50.7 percent of the votes of 268 players in German soccer magazine Kicker.

Greek forward Theofanis Gekas, the league's top scorer with 20 goals, finished a distant second with 10.7 percent, while young German striker Mario Gomez was third with 6.3 percent.

The 21-year-old Manuel Neuer was named best goalkeeper after breaking through to become number one at runners-up Schalke 04.