[ 2012-01-10 ]

Messi crowned world best footballer again
As is now the norm in January, Zurich was
transformed into the football capital of the world
on Monday night, as the men and women whose stars
shone most brightly in 2011 were recognised at the
prestigious FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala.

The beautiful game showed its glamorous side at a
memorable, star-studded event during which Lionel
Messi was again crowned the indisputable king of
the sport. This year he will share his throne with
a new queen, Homare Sawa receiving the honours
pertaining to the women’s game.

Following a lively opening which saw Swiss music
act Tinkabelle perform their single “The man I
need”, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and France
Football Managing Director Francois Moriniere, in
their roles of event hosts, welcomed guests to the
Gala.

Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit and reporter Kay
Murray then took up the reins of the ceremony,
introducing a video montage looking back at the
best moments from one of the biggest events of the
past year, the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany
2011™.

Canada forward Christine Sinclair and Germany
midfielder Kim Kulig took to the stage to share
their experiences of the tournament and promote
the ‘Live your Goals’ campaign, an initiative
which encourages young girls to take up the sport.


The best of the best

Prior to the much-awaited distribution of prizes,
a review of the highlights of the year took place,
and the nominees for the two main footballing
awards of the evening were presented to the
audience. In addition, former French international
Christian Karembeu welcomed to the stage the
scorers of the three strikes vying for the title
of best goal of the year, inviting each of them to
make a case for their outstanding efforts, just as
voting was drawing to a close.

Next to take centre stage was a veritable wealth
of footballing talent, as the eleven players
selected for the 2011 ‘dream team’ - Iker
Casillas; Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio
Ramos, Nemanja Vidic; Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso,
Xavi; Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne
Rooney - received a standing ovation from the
gallery. Every single one of them appeared
immensely proud to be included in the FIFA/FIFPro
World XI and to be handed their award by Pele. The
photo for which they subsequently posed together
is sure to have elicited a wishful sigh from every
coach in attendance.

An elite member of that group, Sir Alex Ferguson,
seemed visibly touched as the Zurich Kongresshaus
rose as one to applaud him, as he was presented
with the FIFA Presidential Award for his 25 years
of service on the Manchester United bench. “I have
been a very, very lucky manager to have had such
great players from the start all the way up until
the present. You don’t always win in football, but
we at Manchester United always try to win,” said
the veteran Scottish coach.

"Elite football is about results and winning,"
said Blatter of Ferguson. "There is no one better
at it than him."

On a night in which coaching excellence was
consistently recognised, Lothar Matthaus was given
the task of presenting the 2011 FIFA Women’s
Football Coach of the Year trophy to Japan coach
Norio Sasaki, who guided the Japan women's
national team to their first FIFA Women's World
Cup.

The former Germany captain also had the honour of
announcing the name of the FIFA Men’s Football
Coach of the Year award, which went to Barcelona
boss Pep Guardiola. “I would like to share this
award with Mr. Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. I
would also like to thank all the people who,
through the years, have helped build the
magnificent, unbelievable club that is Barcelona,”
he said.

The time then came for voting for the FIFA Puskas
Award – recognising the best goal scored during
2011 – to end, and while the final numbers were
being calculated, the FIFA Fair Play Award was
handed out.



President Junji Ogura and women's national team
captain Homare Sawa accepted the award on behalf
of the Japanese Football Association, which
received the accolade for the impressive courage
and spirit shown by Japan as they recovered from
the terrible earthquake and ensuing tsunami that
devastated large parts of the nation on 11 March
2011. “Its a great honour for JFA to receive such
a prestigious award from FIFA. We will do our best
to continue to prepare in our activities. We are
very proud in this award," said a moved Ogura.

Despite this, the Japanese still proved capable of
organising an excellent FIFA World Club Cup
tournament in December, and of lifting the FIFA
Women’s World Cup in Germany, a competition during
which the players publicly thanked the football
community for their support after every match.

Fittingly, a goalscorer of the highest order was
called upon to present the FIFA Puskas Award.
Ex-Mexico marksman Hugo Sanchez revealed the
verdict of the online community, with more than
1,300,000 votes having been registered over the
past few months to eventually designate young
Brazil phenom Neymar’s strike as the best goal of
2011. “I am so happy to be part of this party and
to be competing with these two great players. I’m
very grateful to God and to all you. Enjoy this
party,” said the delighted forward, upon learning
the result.

As the climax of the evening approached, everyone
present took a moment to calm their nerves as
James Blunt performed his hit single ‘Stay the
Night’. The three nominees for the FIFA Women’s
World Player of the Year 2011 then arrived on
stage, exhibiting wide smiles for the cameras
while Colombian superstar Shakira and the FIFA
President proceeded to open the all-important
envelope. The winner, Homare Sawa of Japan, could
not hide her excitement when she addressed the
audience.

At around 8 pm local time, the moment had come to
crown the king of Planet Football. Brazil legend
Ronaldo, the top goalscorer in the history of the
FIFA World Cup™ and a three-time winner of the
FIFA World Player of the Year, took the applause
of the public before calling on Lionel Messi to
accept the FIFA Ballon d’Or Award for 2011. “It’s
a huge pleasure to win the third time, a big
honour. I want to thank the teammates, players and
coaches that voted for me. I want to thank my
Barcelona and Argentina teammates, without them
this would have been impossible. But most of all,
I want to share the award with Xavi: you deserve
this as much as I do,” said the happy recipient of
the golden ball-shaped trophy.

The ovation for the chosen pair was extended to
pay tribute to all of the evening’s winners, who
gathered on stage together to bring the curtain
down on another hugely entertaining and exciting
FIFA Gala.

Source - Fifa

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