Ballon d’Or

Sports

Ronaldo wins 4th Ballon d'Or

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or for the fourth time ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann.

The 31 year-old scored 51 goals in 54 game in 2016, winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and the European Championship with Portugal in the process.

Reacting to the honour, the Portuguese who was unavoidably absent at the ceremony which took place today in Zurich as his side travelled to Japan to prepare for the Club World Cup said, “It is a special moment. It means that all my sacrifice was worth it. I feel very happy to win this. I worked very hard,” Ronaldo said in accepting the award.

“A lot of people helped me get here, and it is not easy to get here. You can count on one hand players who maintain this level year after year. I am one of them, and that is a source of pride for me.”

He continued, “This has been the best year of my career from both a team and individual level. “To win the title for Portugal was what was left to achieve on my résumé, and it was one of the most important moments. But to win Champions League as well with Real Madrid was huge.

“It is a huge honour to win the Ballon d’Or. I am very happy. This is a dream come true, and it is the fourth time. I feel very proud. This win is for my teammates in both the club and the national team. It is incredible to earn this trophy again.”

 

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Sports

2016 Ballon d'Or: Messi, Ronaldo, Griezmann are finalists for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award

 
The final 2016 Ballon d’Or list is out. Messi , Ronaldo and Griezmann have been named on the three- man shortlist for FIFA best Men’s player award. Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney has failed to make the shortlist for the first time while 25-year-old Griezmann is being featured for the first time. The list compiled by the FIFPro players’ union is based upon votes from 25,000 professional footballers. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Zurich on January 9, 2017.
 
Other names missing from the list include; Manchester City’s  Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure, Chelsea’s John Terry, Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, Porto’s Iker Casillas and Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez.
 
The 55-player short list:
Goalkeepers (5): Claudio Bravo (Chile/Barcelona/Manchester City), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/Juventus), David de Gea (Spain/Manchester United), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica/Real Madrid) and Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich).
Defenders (20): David Alaba (Austria/Bayern Munich), Jordi Alba (Spain/Barcelona), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast/Paris St Germain), Hector Bellerin (Spain/Arsenal), Jerome Boateng (Germany/Bayern Munich), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy/Juventus), Dani Carvajal (Spain/Real Madrid), Giorgio Chiellini (Italy/Juventus), Dani Alves (Brazil/Barcelona/Juventus), David Luiz (Brazil/Paris St Germain/Chelsea), Diego Godin (Uruguay/Atletico Madrid), Mats Hummels (Germany/Borussia Dortmund/Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich), Marcelo (Brazil/Real Madrid), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/Barcelona), Pepe (Portugal/Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Spain/Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Brazil/Paris St Germain) and Raphael Varane (France/Real Madrid).
Midfielders (15): Xabi Alonso (Spain/Bayern Munich), Sergio Busquets (Spain/Barcelona), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Andres Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona), N’Golo Kante (France/Leicester/Chelsea) Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Luka Modric (Croatia/Real Madrid), Mesut Ozil (Germany/Arsenal), Dimitri Payet (France/West Ham), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus/Manchester United), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/Barcelona), David Silva (Spain/Manchester City), Marco Verratti (Italy/Paris St Germain) and Arturo Vidal (Chile/Bayern Munich).
Strikers (15): Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Manchester City), Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Paulo Dybala (Argentina/Juventus), Antoine Griezmann (France/Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina/Napoli/Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris St Germain/Manchester United), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Thomas Muller (Germany/Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/Barcelona), Alexis Sanchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Uruguay/Barcelona) and Jamie Vardy (England/Leicester).

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Sports

Ballon d’Or shortlist: France Football explains Eden Hazard's omission

 
Chelsea star, Eden Hazard’s exclusion from the just released 2015/2016 Ballon d’Or shortlist raised a lot of eyebrows. Apparently, the Belgian’s strings of underwhelming performances last season was the chief reason his name was shockingly omitted from the list.
The 25 year-old has improved greatly under the new manager, Antonio Conte and has already matched his Premier League goal tally from last season.

“If there was only one put forward, it would probably be him. Seeing Eden Hazard away from this list can be an anomaly. There is nothing in view of the insipid performances of the Belgian during most of 2016. After 22nd place in 2013, 21st in 2014 and a very nice eighth position last year, Hazard restarts from zero.” France Football explained.

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Entertainment

Greatest Of All Time! Lionel Messi receives platinum boot from Adidas


Messi is now the greatest player of all time, according to adidas

Following his Ballon d’Or victory, Iconic Argentine footballer, Lionel Messi has been presented with a platinum football foot by ace kit company, Adidas.  Marked with the phrase ‘el más grande de todos los tiempos’, interpreted as ‘the greatest of all time’, the boot is embossed with four gold and one platinum embellished dots to celebrate the Barcelona playmaker’s recent feat
Lionel Messi with his five Ballon d'Or titles and new Platinum adidas boots

An adidas statement read.“Messi is the ultimate creator, and the platinum Messi 15 marks his other worldly achievements in football. Gold is for winners, platinum is for the greatest,” 
The platinum boot uses pearlescent Argentinian premium leather, enhanced with pure metallic platinum elements and features logos made out of real platinum.Lionel Messi now stands two clear of Ronaldo in Ballon d'Or standings
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Entertainment

Ballon D’or: The football world will never forget this iconic photo.

Keen followers of The Ballon D’or awards will attest to the fact that the event never ends without talking points. From Messi’s comical outfits to Ronaldo’s excellent fashion sense to mention a few. Last night’s topic ended longer than usual and we loved every bit of it.
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The subject was this picture of the 3 finalists; Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez and Messi’s girlfriend, Antonella at the event. The football world will never forget this shot. The iconic photo, mere looking at it begs for comments and expectedlygenerated a lot of hilarious reactions and memes online. See some of them below:

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Neymar kept more tabs on Antonella than Messi 😉
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Entertainment

Ballon D’or: Messi picks 5th award

Argentina/Barcelona playmaker, Lionel Messi has emerged winner of the 2015 edition of the Ballon D’or awards. Messi garnered 41.33% of total votes cast, Ronaldo and Neymar pulled 27.76% and 7.86% respectively.


 “It’s a very special moment for me. It’s incredible that it’s my fifth. It’s much
more than I dreamed of as a kid.” He said

The 28 year-old had a superlative 2015 and  played an influential role in his side’s ‘treble’ success. (Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey) . In 2015, he  netted 52 goals and made 26 assists.

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Entertainment

"Ballon d'Or is between Messi and Ronaldo. Third contenders shouldn't hold any hope".

Franck Ribery’s opinion is spot on. No one can agree less. Enigmas, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are making it difficult for others to scoop the prize. But the forward claims it is more of politics. And that is corroborated by Bayern Munich goalkeeper‎, Manuel Neuer’s failure to clinch the award for 2014

“I was really upset, but it’s the same every year. I don’t know
what I have to do to win this award anymore‎. Even becoming a world champion is apparently not enough. What can you do? In 2006, Fabio Cannavaro, a defender and world champion, won the Ballon d’Or. In the last two or three years, Neuer has been the best goalkeeper in the world. He has won titles with Bayern.

The winger continued.”In Brazil, he was the best goalkeeper and became a world champion. Obviously that wasn’t enough either. I just don’t get it.

“If another Bayern player is nominated, we should consider
whether it’s even worth going [to the gala]. For what? A photo
maybe? No! “It’s all politics for me, it’s not right. Each player must know that if Ronaldo and Messi are there, the third nominated player shouldn’t hold any hope.”


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Entertainment

2014 Ballon D'Or: FIFA unveils 23-men shortlist

The 2014 Ballon D’Or award shortlist features some of your favourite players who were and are still in sparkling forms last and this season. The 23-men list was unveiled by World football’s governing body today and the winner will be announced at Zurich on January 12.
Breakdown of Nominees
Bayern – 6 nominees
Real Madrid – 6 nominees
Barcelona – 4 nominees
Chelsea – 3 nominees
Manchester United – 1 nominee
Manchester City – 1 nominee
Paris Saint-Germain – 1 nominee
Juventus – 1 nominee
2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist:
Gareth Bale (Wales), Karim Benzema (France), Diego Costa (Spain), Thibaut Courtois (Belgium), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Mario Gotze (Germany), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Paul Pogba (France), Sergio Ramos (Spain), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), James Rodriguez (Colombia), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)
Coach of the Year shortlist:
Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Real Madrid), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus/Italy national team), Pep Guardiola (Spain/Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany/ USA national team), Joachim Low (Germany/Germany national team), Jose Mourinho (Portugal/Chelsea), Manuel Pellegrini (Chile/Manchester City), Alejandro Sabella (Argentina/Argentina national team), Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atletico Madrid), Louis van Gaal (Netherlands/Netherlands national team/Manchester United)
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Entertainment

Cristiano Ronaldo promises to give out a whooping sum of money if Madrid wins UCL tonight.

Recall that he made a similar pledge several months back while vying for Ballon D’Or. The Portuguese has promised to give out his £750,000 bonus if Real Madrid wins Champions League. The Spanish club will face their rival, Atletico Madrid in woat Estadio da Luz in Lisbon tonight.
A friend of the current Ballon d’Or award winner told The Sun, “Cristiano was chatting with the physios and said that winning the Champions League was more important to him than money.
One of the guys responded, saying: ‘Well then, if we win the Champions League, you could share your prize with us!’
“Cristiano agreed, saying: ‘OK, if we win the Champions League I’ll use the money to offer a car to each one of you, and one to each member of the technical team’.
Source: mirror.co.uk
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