Lionel Messi has again been crowned the best player in the world, after being awarded the title honour in the inaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or, retaining his title from last year. The FC Barcelona star beat fellow nominees and team-mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez to win, while it was also the first time three players from the same club filled the nominees list in the history of the award (before 2010, it was the FIFA World Player of the Year).
The Argentine playmaker claimed that he did not expect to be voted in ahead of his Spanish World Cup-winning teammates, but insisted that they could all be proud at making it this far.
Another key award on Monday night was the FIFA Coach of the Year Award, which was claimed by Jose Mourinho after his success with Inter Milan in the early part of last year. He beat off competition from Vicente del Bosque (ESP), and Josep Guardiola (FC Barcelona). The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ now has a title to match his moniker, and the Real Madrid coach said that it would be “impossible” to match the achievements of 2010.
Another Player-based award saw the FIFA/FIFPro World XI for team of the year, which was:
- Iker Casillas (ESP)
- Maicon (BRA)
- Lucio (BRA)
- Gerard Pique (ESP)
- Carlos Puyol (ESP)
- Wesley Sneijder (NED)
- Xavi (ESP)
- Andres Iniesta (ESP)
- Lionel Messi (ARG)
- David Villa (ESP)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (POR)
More awards to honour the sport’s finest were handed out on a night of glamour in Zurich, with the FIFA Presidential Award (for contribution to the game) given to South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was a key ambassador for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The fans had the main say in the outcome of the FIFA Puskas Award (for goal of the year), where over a million users of fifa.com voted for Hamit Altintop’s long-range volley for Turkey against Kazakhstan in a UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifier in Astana. The goal beat 9 other candidates from across the world, and can be seen here:
Other awards on the night were the FIFA Fair Play Award for the Haiti under-17 women’s national team (for carrying on despite many setbacks), the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, awarded to Brazilian striker Marta (for the 5th time in a row), and the FIFA Women’s Coach of the year was awarded to German women’s national team manager Silvia Nied.
The awards ceremony seemed to wrap up another year for football, but what can the world expect from 2011?
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[...] second edition of the re-invented ‘FIFA Ballon d’Or‘ ceremony has seen a similar outcome to the one from last year, as FC Barcelona’s Argentinian international Lionel Messi took home the titular prize at the [...]