For the third time (and for the second time in a row), Cristiano Ronaldo became the winner of the Ballon d'Or, Fifa's award for the best footballer of the past year. The four-time winner of this prestigious award, Lionel Messi, and the newcomer among the finalists, the German Manuel Neuer, were in competition for it. The picture at the top was identical to last year's, except that at the award ceremony in Zurich, the Real Madrid star replaced the tears of happiness with a battle cry and was immediately nicknamed Roar-aldo.
Golden ball Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been giving each other the last few years. This year's battle between the Argentine and the Portuguese, who seem to be from another planet on the grass greens, is for the second time in a row won the latter, and the Barcelona star had to settle for second place for the second time in a row (a mirror image of the situation from 2011 and 2012). Ronaldo, which is the most prestigious award in 2008 received as a Manchester United player, namely he received 37,66% votes teammates, while Messi and the goalkeeper of the German national team and the Bayern team, Neuer, received each 15,76% or 15,72% votes.
READ MORE: Cristiano Ronaldo gets his third golden boot
Before the decisive moment, it was in Congress House in Zurich all the while feeling the tension in the air that he finally discharged Thierry Henry, after opening and reading the name of the winner. There were quite a few of them this evening. Coach of the German national team Joachim Löw thus became the best coach, while the best coach of the women's team became his compatriot Ralf Kellerman. Colombian James Rodrigues scored the most beautiful goal (in the match against Uruguay), and the best soccer player of the year became a German Nadine Kessler.
Of course, we can't pass by the somewhat surprising one ideal eleven, where the defensive positions were filled by Philipp Lahm, Sergio Ramos, David Luiz and Thiago Silva, the goalkeeper position by Manuel Neuer, the midfielder positions by Angel di Maria, Andres Iniesta and Toni Kroos, and the tip is formed by Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Arjen Robben. Presidential Award FIFA for Lifetime Achievement fell into the hands of Japanese journalist Hiroshi Kagawa, and for Ferpley volunteers in all football competitions.
