CRISTIANO RONALDO WINS THE BALLON D´OR - FIFA FRANCE FOOTBALL GOLDEN BALL 2013

FIFA along with media partner France Football has announced the winner of the "Ballon d´Or" - "Golden Ball Award" for 2013 to Portuguese International & Real Madrid forward CRISTIANO RONALDO. The player received his second "Golden Ball" Award with joy & with emotion as the Portuguese broke into tears obviously overwhelmed by the occasion. The son of Cristiano Ronaldo innocently followed his father onto the stage which added more emotion to the whole presentation.

Cristiano Ronaldo thanked his team-mates, Club President, family, girl-friend & Eusebio who recently passed away. The critics which will be many may bring up that Ronaldo did not have words for the other candidates Messi & Ribery, however I am sure that the emotion was too much & he accidently placed those wanted words onto a secondary phase.

This Award & winner will have its post-Gala controversy. Many will say that the winner was known days - weeks back ( see post ), others will comment that Franck Ribery deserved the Award, but the Frenchman came in third behind Lionel Messi who was second. Here are the final points % breakdown:

Cristiano Ronaldo 27,99%
Lionel Messi 24,72%
Franck Ribery 23,36%

FIFA pre-Gala in the press conference emphasized that the extension of the voting had no effect on the final results. Here are all the voting numbers from around the World ( see voting ). Either way, History will show year 2013 with the name Cristiano Ronaldo 

German ex-Bayern Munich Coach Jupp Heynckes won as expected the FIFA Best Coach 2013 Award.

The FIFPro-FIFA Best World XI 2013 was:

Neuer; Alves, Ramos, Thiago Silva, Lahm; Xavi, Iniesta, Ribery; Messi, Ibrahimovic & Cristiano Ronaldo,

with Spanish Football & Spanish Liga being the most represented.

The other winners were:

• Best Female World Footballer 2013 - Nadine Angerer (Germany)
• Honorific FIFA-France Football Award - Pele
• Puskus Award - Best Goal - Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
• Best Female Coach - Silvia Neid (Germany)
• Fair Play - Afghanistan Football Federation

So another year, another winner etc. Let the praises, the arguments, the critics & the other comments begin...once again.

Congratulations to Cristiano Ronaldo & all the other winners from Spanish Football Sports Blog.

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FIFA - FRANCE FOOTBALL GOLDEN BALL 2013 | IS CRISTIANO RONALDO ALREADY THE WINNER ?

Tomorrow night we will have a new ( or renewed ) "King of World Football". FIFA-France Football will announce the winner of the "2013 FIFA Golden Ball Award" in Zurich in front of a "creme de la creme" audience from three candidates: Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi ( FC Barcelona) & Cristiano Ronaldo ( Real Madrid ).

Whoever of these three "Titans of Football" is proclaimed the winner, the controversy will be assured. Not everyone will be in accord or happy with the announcement. From a collective point of view, Franck Ribery deserves the prize after helping Bayern Munich with German League, German Cup & Champions League. However, as seen in 2010 when Spanish star Andres Iniesta won the World Cup with Spain, he too deserved it then but was ousted by team-mate Lionel Messi on individual criteria. Lionel Messi has had a "troubled" second half of 2013 with injuries which has lowered his form & kept him out of the playing fields months but his "pedigree" cannot be questioned . While Cristiano Ronaldo has been a true "Hurricane" with goals in 2013 with unbelievable numbers, but he has not won a "Collective" title with Real Madrid. There are plenty of ingredients to open debate & keep it heated for hours & hours, even days & weeks.

The FIFA - France Football Golden Ball has lost credibility in recent years which is a real pity. The accusations of fixing, economic interests & knowledge of winners before the ceremony has blemished the "concept". This year an added controversy was added when FIFA re-opened & extended the voting to included the World Cup European Groups qualifiers for Brazil 2014 which included the Portugal - Sweden tie that saw Cristiano Ronaldo single handedly put his Nation into the World Cup. Many saw this as giving Cristiano Ronaldo the advantage & even candidate Franck Ribery announced to media that he was "disgusted" with the FIFA decision to extend the period of votes. 

So who will win?

Everything indicates that Cristiano Ronaldo will win. There is circumstantial evidence:

• the massive "media campaign" to his favour in the last months.
• numerous surveys that indicate CR7 will win. Surveys that include direct contact with voters around the World to get their votes,  independent of the supposed contractual "confidentiality clause" that FIFA places.
• the changing of mind from Ronaldo that he will now attend the Award Gala. The Portuguese star announce his NO ATTENDANCE after FIFA President Blatter showed his preference for Messi & "offended" him with a ridiculous impersonation.
• the decision of Cristiano Ronaldo to travel to Zurich with all his family . This last point is very significant.

Added to the above, there are "dark room" indicators that "influencers" called for some fresh air for the Award as it gets "monotonous" Lionel Messi winning every year, along with the mayor Sportswear Multinationals & sponsors calling "its our turn for a piece of the pie" & change.

If the above is all true ( now its speculation ) it puts in doubt the FIFA message of "...the winner is securely locked away in a Swiss vault & comes out to the public on the day of the ceremony"...story. Although we all know that France Football has to do a complete "photo session" with the winner weeks before to get its special "Golden Ball Award" issue on the streets the next day of formal announcement.

Either way, tomorrow all doubts or rumoured knowledge will be formalized. Whoever wins the controversy will be assured, & extras doubts exposed over a prize of this category that should be completely rid off, & should be only known for its coherency, independence & transparency.  But nothing with FIFA lately ( Qatar World Cup,  for example ) has any of the three.

Good luck to all three candidate,  & may the "better" win.

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CRISTIANO RONALDO WINS WORLD SOCCER BEST PLAYER AWARD 2013

The prestigious Football Magazine, "World Soccer" has released its list of "Best Football Player 2013", "Best Coach 2013" & "Best Football - Soccer Club 2013". The voting comes in from all their journalists around the World & gives the  Real Madrid & Portuguese International Cristiano Ronaldo the Award as the "Best Football Player of 2013" ahead of FC Barcelona player Lionel Messi & Bayern Munich player Franck Ribery.  The "Best Coach" goes to Jupp Heynckes who steered Bayern Munich to German Liga, Cup & Champions League League titles last season, while the "Best Club" goes to Bayern Munich with Spanish Football Club Atletico de Madrid in 2º place. Below are the full lists:

Best Player 2013 by World Soccer

1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal) 1075 pts
2 Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona & Argentina) 926
3 Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich & France) 870
4 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain & Sweden) 658
5 Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich & Holland) 324
6 Neymar (Santos/Barcelona & Brazil) 286
7 Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich & Germany) 255
8 Robin Van Persie (Manchester United & Holland) 251
9 Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund & Poland) 250
10 Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur/Real Madrid & Wales) 187
11 Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid/Monaco & Colombia) 158
12 Andres Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain) 157
13 Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich & Germany) 123
14 Luis Suarez (Liverpool & Uruguay) 101
15 Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich & Germany) 100
16 Andrea Pirlo (Juventus & Italy) 94
17 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich & Germany) 86
18 Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid/Arsenal & Germany) 78
19 Edinson Cavani (Napoli/Paris Saint-Germain & Uruguay) 65
20 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City & Argentina) 48
30 Ronaldinho (Atletico Mineiro & Brazil) 12
40 Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid & Brazil/Spain) 8

Best Trainer/Coach

1 Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Munich) 86
2 Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund) 15
3 Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid) 5
4 Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) 4
5 Vicente Del Bosque (Spain) 2
Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) 2
Marcello Lippi (Guangzhou Evergrande) 2

8 Carlos Ancelotti (Paris Saint-Germain/Real Madrid) 1
Antonio Conte (Juventus) 1
Lars Lagerback (Iceland) 1
Safet Susic (Bosnia-Herzegovina) 1
Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay) 1
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) 1

Best Team

1 Bayern Munich 118
2 Atletico de Madrid 1
Borussia Dortmund 1
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1
Germany 1

The fact that the "Best Player Award" goes to Cristiano Ronaldo is significant & worth highlighting. The winner of the "World Soccer" Prize usually ends up winning the "FIFA-France Football Golden Ball". The announcement today coincides with another that Real Madrid Player Cristiano Ronaldo will finally attend the FIFA Golden Ball ceremony. This was not clear at all previously after FIFA President blatter did his "impersonation" party gag of "Ronaldo the Commander" & favoured publically Lionel Messi. The inner circle of Ronaldo had suggested that the Real Madrid player would not attend the FIFA Golden Ball ceremony. Things look different today. 

Although one can never put ones hand in the fire in reference to Football issues, the World Soccer Award to Cristiano Ronaldo is a huge boost to his candidacy & the betting houses will now have the Real Madrid star as the hot favourite to win the 2013 FIFA-France Football Golden Ball. Stay tuned!
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FIFA ANNOUNCE THE FINAL THREE CANDIDATES FOR GOLDEN BALL AWARD 2013

The news released by FIFA - France Football is a "no News". As expected the final three candidates up for the FIFA France Football Golden Ball Award - Best World Footballer 2013 - are Cristiano Ronaldo ( Real Madrid CF ), Franck Ribery ( Bayern Munich ) & Lionel Messi ( FC Barcelona ).

The winner will be announced in Zurich (Switzerland) on the 13th of January 2014. The Award will be given under controversy as the continual "FIFA fumbles & errors" has harmed its credibility with accusations of fixing in recent years & more so these final months. Which ever of the three players finally wins the Award they will be criticised as the opinions are split on all fronts.

In the "Best Coach 2013" the three candidates are Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund) & Ferguson (Manchester United). The three candidates for "Best Goal 2013" are Ibrahimovic, Matic y Neymar.

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FIFA POWER POLITICS | BLATTER vs CRISTIANO RONALDO | THE REAL STORY

The storm caused by FIFA President Blatter & his comments in reference to the question of who he preferred, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, has been magnified & blown out beyond what simple outside Football observers would have expected. In fact no one knew in Spain that Blatter had spoke at the Oxford University forum until yesterday night. The comments took place on Friday & came to light 3 days later, coinciding "casually" with the release of the FIFA Golden Ball list of 23 candidates... more later

Here is the video & what the FIFA President had to say about Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo:



Yes one can interpret that Mr.Blatter could have been more alert & more politically correct. The surprise is not the negative & disrespectful interpretation from Spanish Sports media, Real Madrid & Cristiano Ronaldo which is understandable, but the trap set-up to which a traditionally fierce "political animal" that the FIFA President is known for fell foot & head into to the glee & the smiles of his enemies. 

Mr. Blatter has held with an iron fist power under FIFA for a long time, & one does not do this without kicking heads, plenty of skulls. Those who have "suffered" the powers of Blatter have waited in the dark silently & are now smelling blood to go in for the kill. Cristiano Ronaldo has long felt that he has been badly respected by FIFA not only last Friday & now he has his moment. Real Madrid has felt a serious loss of power in the International Football Community & now has the opportunity to put back their 2 cents worth of "revenge", these & the long list of behind the scene Football, Political, Economic & who knows who personalities that have ambitions to take away the seat of Football power ( & a Billion dollar industry ) from Blatter. 

The current FIFA President is "wounded", especially after the Qatar 2022 World Cup allocation which is full of serious accusations of fixing, multi-million "brides" & the acknowledge public mistake voiced by Blatter himself that to play Football under 50 degrees conditions was a mistake & almost suicidal. Will the Qatar & World Investors accept a change? Doubt it? Many feel that the "old man" should move on, people like Michel Platini ( the current UEFA President ) who has his eye on the FIFA seat, also like Spanish Federation President Angel Villar & all the other numerous power hungry enemies from Sporting wear multi-nationals, Economic Institutions & Companies, World Sports Media, Football Clubs, Coaches, Players, Representatives etc & etc of which Mr.Blatter has previously stuck his "Doc Marteens" Boots into their teeth for years.

The Blatter "comments" scenario or the occasion could not be more perfect, on the day of FIFA Golden Ball 23 candidate list release the Oxford University video hits Spanish media & the Cristiano Roanldo ignition sparks fire. The immediate reaction which is perfectly acceptable was a back-lash from Spanish media calling for blood, a letter from Real Madrid calling that Blatter retract his words, a letter from the Portuguese Football Federation which took it to national levels, Real Madrid Coach Ancelotti defending his player ( what else could he do ),  a letter from Cristiano Roanldo representative Jorge Mendes calling for respect & Cristiano Ronaldo himself via his Facebook saying:

The reaction from Mr.Blatter was immediate saying that he was taken out of context & perhaps he was a bit too loose in behaviour & words. The FIFA President has asked for apologies & that he has the maximum respect for Ronaldo who is an exceptional player. 

The FIFA President, the most "powerful man in World Football"  has had to say sorry for words he pronounced to a "simple" question at an Oxford University Forum. Why? Because Blatter is no longer as powerful as we ( he ) once thought, the man has surprisingly ( & perhaps unknowingly ) given reasons & arms to his long list of enemies waiting to "knock off the King". We may be witnessing the last months / year of reign for Mr.Blatter. However I am sure the "one man" will not go out the exit door without firing his guns & last bullets. Cristiano Ronaldo may have kissed away his possible chances for this years Golden Ball Award, its a real possibility, not to mention Spain losing in the upcoming Brazil World Cup...Real Madrid losing the Champions League???
Nahhh , not possible, right?

But Cristiano Ronaldo ( & Spain ) in the arena of World Football & "dirty politics" are just  instruments & not really important, a means to an end. Taking a Shakespearian line..."There is something smelly in Zurich". 

Stay tuned for future developments.

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FIFA GOLDEN BALL AWARD 2013 LIST OF 23 CANDIDATES

French Magazine "France Football" has released the list of 23 candidates eligible for this years "FIFA GOLDEN BALL Award". The surprise is that there are only 2 Spanish born players & both from FC Barcelona: Andres Iniesta & Xavi Hernandez.

The full list of 23 FIFA Golden Ball candidates:

Gareth Bale (Tottenham/Real Madrid)

Edinson Cavani (Nápoles/PSG)

Radamel Falcao (Atlético/Mónaco)

Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG)

Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)

Philipp Lahm (Bayern Múnich)

Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Thomas Müller (Bayern Múnich)

Neymar (Santos/Barcelona)

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Múnich)

Mesut Özil(Real Madrid/Arsenal)

Andrea Pirlo (Juventus)

Franck Ribery (Bayern Múnich)

Arjen Robben (Bayern Múnich)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Múnich)

Luis Suárez (Liverpool)

Thiago Silva (PSG)

Yaya Toure (Manchester City)

Robin van Persie (Manchester United)

Xavi (Barcelona)

FIFA will reduce this list down to 3 candidates on the 2nd of December & will announce the winner the 13th of January 2013 in Zurich. The current hot favourite is Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich with perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo a close second. However, Cristiano Ronaldo may be getting himself "whipped off" with his public comments & actions of late ( e.g. not attending UEFA Best European Player ceremony ), comments on UEFA & indirectly Platini over Portugals next World Cup qualifier & FIFA President Blatter comments that he prefers Messi. We all know that the FIFA Golden Ball has a heavy weight/element of Marketing & "pulling" the "FIFA/UEFA political band-wagon".

Stay tuned!

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