Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo Wins The Ballon D'Or

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo won the European Footballer of the Year Award in France on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Portuguese star is the first from his country to win the coveted 'Ballon D'Or' award which is given by 'France Football' since Luis Figo in 2000.

CR7 has spoken often about his chances of winning this despite protestations from opposing fans. At one point he actually declared himself not only the best footballer in the world but second and third too.

He scored a remarkable 42 times in 49 matches as United secured a memorable league and European Cup double.

Lionel Messi finished in second place with Fernando Torres in third.

This award has been Presented since 1956 by the French football magazine France Football, it is awarded to the player considered to have performed best over the previous year;. The first to lift this honour was Blackpool player Stanley Matthews.

Prior to 2007, the player had to be a member of a club based within UEFA's jurisdiction in order to qualify for selection; and until 1995 a player also had to be of European nationality to be eligible. The 2007 change in rules saw players from Qatar, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina named on the shortlist alongside those from European clubs.

Since October 2007, 96 football journalists from around the world have decided the winner from a shortlist of 50 compiled by France Football.

Add this title to the fact Manchester United are current Premier League Champions and Champions of Europe things look rosy right now. Ronaldo is also favourite for the World Player of the Year too.....and I don't think many will argue with that!

Can Manchester United also go on to win the World Club Cup in Tokyo too ? The mind boggles.....Back To Home Page...

Cristiano Ronaldo Named FIFPro World Player Of The Year

Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted player of the year by his fellow professionals at FIFPro. The international players’ union, which has 57,500 members, announced that the Manchester United whinger, ooops I mean winger, who scored 42 goals last season when United won both the Champions League and Premier League, had topped their poll.

"To be recognized by my fellow professional players worldwide coming from over 50,000 players is amazing," he said. Ronaldo is also a strong contender to win the Fifa award as well as the European Golden Ball, which is organized by the French magazine France Football.

"I would like to thank my teammates and coaches and everyone involved at Man United and the national team, as well as my family and friends for their support, thank you also to FIFPro for this award and for your work in protecting the interests and welfare of players around the world."

Five of the Spanish stars who won the 2008 European Championship were named in FIFPro’s team-of-the-year lineup. With all but one of the players coming from either the Spanish or English leagues, the lineup includes Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, Barcelona’s Carles Puyol and Xavi Fernandez and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres. Barcelona’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi is also in the team and Champions League winner Manchester United has Rio Ferdinand and Ronaldo. Liverpool also has Steven Gerrard, John Terry is the only Chelsea player on the lineup and AC Milan’s Kaka is the lone star from Italy’s Serie A.....Back To Home Page

Ballon D'Or Short List

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Chelsea's Frank Lampard and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard are among 11 Premier League players shortlisted for this year's Ballon d'Or. The trio are the only British representatives for the award alongside the likes of Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo - the clear favourite - and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

France Football magazine have revealed the condensed list of 30 contenders for their European golden ball award, with Barcelona striker Thierry Henry and AC Milan's Ronaldinho, who received the accolade in 2005, absent after disapp-
ointing campaigns last season.

Portugal international winger Ronaldo is the clear favourite to win the award on December 2 with Barcelona's Lionel Messi and 2007 winner Kaka also in contention. Rooney won the Champions League with Manchester United in May while Lampard played in the final for Chelsea. Liverpool's Gerrard impressed as they reached the tournament's last four before losing to Chelsea in the semi-finals.

Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba (both Chelsea), Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic (both Manchester United) and Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal) are the other Premier League stars on the list, which has been cut down from 50. Spain are represented by seven players after winning Euro 2008 in the summer - Torres and Fabregas being joined by Marcos Senna, Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas, David Villa and Xavi.

Only three Serie A players have been nominated - Kaka, Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon - with Spain's Primera Division matching the Premier League with 11 nominees. Previous Ballon d'Or winners Andriy Shevchenko and Fabio Cannavaro have missed out.

Shortlist: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg) Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Karim Benzema (Lyon), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Internazionale), Kaka, Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Pepe (Real Madrid), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Rafael van der Vaart (Hambourg/Real Madrid), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), David Villa (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona), Youri Zhirkov .....Back To Home Page