Ballon d'Or Hat-trick for Messi

Argentina’s Lionel Messi collected the FIFA Ballon d’Or, his third consecutive title while Japan’s Homare Sawa claimed her first FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala held at the Zurich Kongresshaus this evening. 

Pep Guardiola, the Spanish coach of FC Barcelona, and Japan’s women’s national team coach Norio Sasaki were the respective winners of the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football and FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football. 

Messi’s and Guardiola’s FC Barcelona side concluded 2011 with victory in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, sealing another fine year which also included the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup titles. 

Japan’s women’s team, known as the Nadeshiko, memorably claimed their maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup with a thrilling performance, twice coming back from behind to eventually defeat the USA on penalties after extra time. 

These awards were decided after a poll in which the captains and head coaches of the men’s (for the two men’s football awards) and women’s (for the two women’s football awards) national teams, as well as international media representatives selected by French football magazine France Football, voted for candidates in each of the four categories. Each group’s votes represented one third of the final result. 

It was an unforgettable night, with many former and current football stars on the stage and on the red carpet. The international audience were entertained by Swiss music group TinkaBelle and British singer/songwriter James Blunt. 

The FIFA Ballon d’Or was awarded for the second time tonight, following the amalgamation of the FIFA World Player of the Year award with the France Football Ballon d’Or in 2010. 

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Ballon d’Or after polling 47.88 of the votes, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (21.6)%) and Xavi (9.23%). 

Sawa, winner of the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award, led Japan to the title at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 in Germany, where she also won the adidas Golden Ball as the best player of the competition and the adidas Golden Boot for her five goals. She collected 28.51% of the votes, ahead of Brazil’s Marta and Abby Wambach from the USA, who received 17.28% and 13.26% respectively. 

Pep Guardiola secured the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award with 41.92% of the votes, ahead of Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson, who received 15.61%, and Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese coach of Real Madrid (12.43%). 

Meanwhile, Norio Sasaki led the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football category with 45.57% of the votes, ahead of Pia Sundhage, the Swedish coach of the USA women’s national team (15.83%), and France’s women’s team coach Bruno Bini (10.28%). 

FIFPro, the world players’ union, had invited 50,000 professional players from all over the world to select their best team of 2011, the FIFA/FIFPro WORLD XI. 

The honours went to the following all-star squad: Iker Casillas (Spain) in goal; Dani Alves (Brazil), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Sergio Ramos (Spain) and Nemanja Vidic (Serbia) in defence; Xabi Alonso (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain) and Xavi (Spain) in midfield; and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Wayne Rooney (England) up front. 

The FIFA Puskás Award for the “most beautiful goal” of the year as voted for on FIFA.com and francefootball.fr by more than 1.5 million fans was also handed out. This prize, created in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, went to Brazil’s Neymar for his fantastic goal in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A match between Santos FC and Flamengo in São Paulo on 27 July 2011. 

Sir Alex Ferguson received the FIFA Presidential Award from President Joseph S. Blatter for his outstanding dedication, commitment and service to football. On 6 November 2011 Sir Alex Fergusoncompleted 25 years as manager of Manchester United. During that period the club have won over 30 different trophies, including 12 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, two UEFA Champions Leagues and the FIFA Club World Cup. 

The FIFA Fair Play Award was given to the Japan women’s team, who had to endure many hardships following the earthquake which struck their country in March 2011, and during which many people lost their lives. The team showed great courage to make it to the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011, ultimately lifting the trophy for the first time. The award was collected by the President of the Japan FA, Junji Ogura, and by the captain of the team, Homare Sawa. 

Simone Farina was recognised on stage for his courage in denouncing an attempt to get him to fix a match. The player of Serie B club AS Gubbio in Italy was complimented by the FIFA President for his action and applauded by the audience.

FIFA List is Xavi, Messi and Ronaldo

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi are battling to win the prestigious 2011 Ballon d'Or after the list of nominees was reduced to three.

It comes as little surprise as two of the stars play for European champions Barcelona while Real Madrid ace Ronaldo has enjoyed a stand-out year.

Messi won the inaugural award last year after FIFA's World Player of the Year crown and France Football's Ballon d'Or prize merged.

The Barcelona forward is the favourite once again following another stunning season at Camp Nou in which he scored 53 goals in all competitions.

Should Messi triumph he will join former France midfielder Michel Platini, and Holland greats Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten as the only three-time winners.

The Argentina international was Barca's top scorer as Pep Guardiola's men retained the Primera Liga title and reclaimed the UEFA Champions League trophy by defeating Manchester United at Wembley.

Xavi was the architect of many of Messi's goals, the Barca veteran maintaining his position as arguably the premier midfielder in world football.

Ronaldo also scored 53 times for Real Madrid as they finished runners-up in Spain and lost out to Barca in the Champions League semi-finals.

The former Manchester United winger has carried his form into this season with Jose Mourinho's men three points clear of Barcelona at the top of Spain's top flight.

Red Devils striker Wayne Rooney was the only Englishman to make the 23-man list of nominees, however, he is no longer in contention to win the coveted award.

Coach of the Year

Meanwhile, Guardiola, Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson were shortlisted for the 2011 FIFA Coach of the Year award.

Guardiola's men were again mesmeric in 2011, sweeping all before them with an attractive style of football.

Real were their closest challengers, narrowly losing out in the domestic league and in Europe. They did, however, gain a degree of revenge by lifting the Copa del Rey with a 1-0 defeat of the Catalans in Valencia.

In addition to guiding United to the Champions League final, Ferguson also led the Red Devils to a record 19th English championship - the 12th under the Scot's stewardship.

United were also represented in the category for the 2011 goal of the year - the FIFA Puskas award - with Rooney nominated for his stunning overhead kick against Manchester City last season.

The winners will be announced on 9th January in Zurich with 1987 Ballon d'Or winner Ruud Gullit presiding over the ceremony.

Ballon d'Or winners:

1956 Stanley Matthews

1957 Alfredo Di Stefano

1958 Raymond Kopa

1959 Alfredo Di Stefano

1960 Luis Suarez

1961 Omar Sivori

1962 Josef Masopust

1963 Lev Yashin

1964 Denis Law

1965 Eusebio

1966 Bobby Charlton

1967 Florian Albert

1968 George Best

1969 Gianni Rivera

1970 Gerd Mueller

1971 Johan Cruyff

1972 Franz Beckenbauer

1973 Johan Cruyff

1974 Johan Cruyff

1975 Oleg Blokhin

1976 Franz Beckenbauer

1977 Allan Simonsen

1978 Kevin Keegan

1979 Kevin Keegan

1980 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

1981 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

1982 Paolo Rossi

1983 Michel Platini

1984 Michel Platini

1985 Michel Platini

1986 Igor Belanov

1987 Ruud Gullit

1988 Marco van Basten

1989 Marco van Basten

1990 Lothar Matthaeus

1991 Jean-Pierre Papin

1992 Marco van Basten

1993 Roberto Baggio

1994 Hristo Stoichkov

1995 George Weah

1996 Matthias Sammer

1997 Ronaldo

1998 Zinedine Zidane

1999 Rivaldo

2000 Luis Figo

2001 Michael Owen

2002 Ronaldo

2003 Pavel Nedved

2004 Andriy Shevchenko

2005 Ronaldinho

2006 Fabio Cannavaro

2007 Kaka

2008 Cristiano Ronaldo

2009 Lionel Messi

2010 Lionel Messi

FIFA Ballon d’Or Offers Old and New

As the shortlist for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or shows, it is Barcelona who have once again been setting the standards over the last year. Likewise, the list of nominees for the 2011 FIFA Men’s Football Coach of the Year also reflects a stable trend, with seven of last year’s contenders again in the running for the coveted accolade, and not without good reason.

Among the candidates are three national team bosses who have this year picked up where they left off in 2010.

Vicente del Bosque owes his reappearance on the shortlist to his enduring quest for excellence. Not content with lifting the FIFA World Cup™ Trophy at South Africa 2010, the affable Spain coach has maintained his focus during La Roja’s UEFA EURO 2012 qualification campaign, presiding over eight wins in as many games as the Spanish secured their place in Ukraine and Poland with a minimum of fuss. 

The second of the returning national team supremos is Joachim Low, whose Germany side have built on their impressive performances in South Africa, producing a string of devastating attacking displays in the EURO 2012 qualifiers to match Spain’s 100 per cent record. In winning all ten of their games in Group A, the insatiable Germans struck 34 goals and conceded just seven, a reflection of the crushing consistency they have found under Low.

Completing the triumvirate is Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez, who rekindled the love affair between his country's fans and the national team thanks to his side’s unexpected fourth place at South Africa 2010. Working his magic once more at the 2011 Copa America in Argentina, the man they call El Maestro steered La Celeste to their first continental title in 16 years, sealed by a 3-0 defeat of Paraguay in the final.

It comes as no surprise at all to see Pep Guardiola and 2010 winner Jose Mourinho back in the frame, the duo having showcased their tactical acumen in the titanic quartet of Barcelona-Real Madrid matches that enthralled the football world last spring.

Guardiola went on to win the second UEFA Champions League of his Barça reign and his third league title, while his Portuguese opposite number, who received critical acclaim for negating Barcelona for long periods in that four-game series, contented himself with the Copa del Rey, his first trophy for Los Merengues.

Currently celebrating a quarter of a century in charge at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson is another big name back in contention for the coveted coach’s award. The eternally driven Manchester United manager has lost none of his appetite for collecting silverware and was on the glory trail yet again in 2011, guiding his side to a record 19th league title and only being denied another Champions League success by Guardiola’s Barcelona.

Completing the magnificent seven of repeat nominees is Arsene Wenger, whose philosophy of nurturing young talent and cultured football has won Arsenal many admirers in recent years. The past year saw the astute Frenchman overhaul the Gunners line-up yet again, as he sought to keep pace with habitual title rivals United and Chelsea and new boys on the block, Manchester City.

After enjoying unexpectedly successful seasons with Porto, Borussia Dortmund and Lille respectively, new candidates Andre Villas-Boas, Jurgen Klopp and Rudi Garcia richly deserve to be in contention, taking their places on the shortlist at the expense of Carlo Ancelotti, Louis van Gaal and Bert van Marwijk.

Considered by many to be the next Mourinho, 34-year-old compatriot Villas-Boas justified that lofty billing by masterminding Porto’s magnificent cup, league and UEFA Europa League treble, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact Os Dragões did not lose a single championship game all season.

Klopp’s achievement was not just to break Borussia Dortmund’s ten-year Bundesliga title drought, but to do so with a young team not ranked among the early-season title favourites, while Lille boss Garcia pulled off a similar exploit in France, taking Les Dogues to their first championship win since 1954 and adding the cup for good measure.

“When I heard the news I thought it couldn’t be true,” said an elated Garcia, reacting to Tuesday’s shortlist announcement. “It makes me feel so proud to receive this recognition for all the hard work that’s been put in at Lille. There’s no doubt I owe this to my club.”