Messi wins FIFA Ballon d’Or again

Argentina and FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi on Monday won for the fifth time the FIFA Ballon d’Or, the award for the best player in the world.

At the annual event held in Zurich, Switzerland, U.S. midfielder Carli Lloyd also claimed her first-ever FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award.

Messi won the 2015 title with 41.33 per cent of all votes ahead of Real Madrid and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo who secured 27.76 per cent of the votes.

Neymar of Brazil, who is Messi’s teammate at FC Barcelona finished third with 7.86 per cent of the votes cast.

 

The winners were chosen by the coaches and captains of the national teams as well as by international media representatives invited by FIFA and France Football, a well-established football magazine.

Those involved in the voting for the best male player award are 165 national team coaches, 162 national team captains and 171 media representatives.

Voters in the female player category were 136 national team coaches, 135 national team captains and 106 media representatives.

Lloyd came out on top with 35.28 per cent of all votes, ahead of German Célia Šašić (12.60 per cent) and Japan’s Aya Miyama (9.88 per cent).

FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and U.S. national team coach Jill Ellis were also winners at the event.

They have been named for the first time as FIFA World Coaches of the Year for men’s and women’s football respectively.

National team coaches numbering 167, as well as 161 national team captains and 171 media representatives, voted for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award.

Enrique won the award with 31.08 per cent of all votes, after winning four titles (La Liga, Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup) in 2015.

Second and third place were claimed by Pep Guardiola (FC Bayern Munich, 22.97 per cent) and Jorge Sampaoli (Chilean national team, 9.47 per cent) respectively.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the entire electoral procedure was overseen and monitored by PricewaterhouseCoopers Switzerland (PwC).

The awards were presented during a 90-minute show at Zurich’s Kongresshaus which was hosted by Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt and British journalist Kate Abdo.

The musical entertainment for the 1,100 guests and TV viewers in over 190 countries and territories around the world was provided by British pop star Leona Lewis.

The musician was supported by young Croatian cellists Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser, known as 2CELLOS.

This year’s FIFA Fair Play Award was presented to all the football organisations and clubs around the world which are working to support refugees.

Former German international Gerald Asamoah, who campaigns for the welfare of refugees, received the award from former South African icon Lucas Radebe on behalf of all the awardees.

NAN reports that the world has in the past year witnessed a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe because of conflict in Syria.

Many innocent people have fled their homes in desperate conditions to find safety for themselves and their loved ones.

Society has responded and the world of football has also contributed to the cause.

Clubs and football organisations all over the world have acted to help welcome and support refugees as they integrate into local communities.

International players’ union FIFPro received votes from 26,478 professional players from around the world for the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the best team of 2015.

The team has Manuel Neuer (Germany/FC Bayern Munich) in goal, as well as Dani Alves (Brazil/FC Barcelona), Marcelo (Brazil/Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid) and Thiago Silva (Brazil/Paris Saint-Germain) in defence.

Andrés Iniesta (Spain/FC Barcelona), Luka Modrić (Croatia/Real Madrid) and Paul Pogba (France/Juventus) are in midfield, while Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona) and Neymar (Brazil/FC Barcelona) are in attack.

The FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal of the year was also presented after 1.6 million football fans cast their votes on FIFA.com, FIFA on YouTube and francefootball.fr.

This award, which is a tribute to Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the 1950s Hungary team, was won by Brazilian Wendell Lira from Goianésia.

 

Lira topped the poll with 46.7 per cent of the votes, ahead of Lionel Messi (33.3 per cent) and Alessandro Florenzi (7.1 per cent).

NAN reports that FIFA Ballon d’Or was presented for the sixth time since the merging of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and France Football’s Ballon d’Or award in 2010.(NAN)