» Football Awards

Rooney is England’s best player of 2009.

ana — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:22:47 +0000

A day after helping Manchester United take the Carling Cup title, Wayne Rooney took home the award for England’s best player in 2009. Rooney got over 40% of votes of a poll promoted by the FA.

Do you htink he deserved it?

Messi and Marta: 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year

Ana — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:27:06 +0000

As expected, Messi and Marta are 2009’s FIFA World Player of the Year.

Messi took his first FIFA World Player award home by beating C. Ronaldo (who had 352 points against his 1,073). Xavi was third, Kaka fourth and Iniesta fifth. Very well deserved.

Marta took the award for the fourth consecutive time, something never achieved before by male or female player. And she deserves it more then anyone out there. The superiority of her game and skills make it impossible for anyone to win. Germany’s Prinz was second with 290 points (Marta had 833), Kelly Smith had 252, and Cristiane had 239.

The Best of Brasileirao

Bruno Romani — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:58:36 +0000

One day after the end of 2009 Campeonato Brasileiro, the best players of the tournament were awarded. Placar, the most traditional football magazine in Brazil, handed for the 40th time the Bola de Prata (silver ball) and the Bola de Ouro (golden ball). Later, CBF awarded its Craque Brasileirão, a newer prize but the one that gets an official seal. And despite that the two prizes have different criteria to chose the best, only 4 differences took place.

For one of the defensive midfielders, Placar chose Palmeiras’ Pierre whereas CBF picked Sao Paulo’s Hernanes again. As leftback, Placar chose Kleber (the one Dunga dropped from the national team) while CBF picked Julio Cesar from Goias. For one of the offensive midfielders, Placar picked Marcelinho Paraiba who was relegated with Coritiba while CBF picked Palmeiras’ Diego Souza.

The two awards diverged regarding Brasileirao’s MVP. Placar handed it to Adriano while CBF picked Diego Souza.

The Bola de Prata squad, prize handed by Placar, is chosen in the following way. Journalists from the magazine watch every game at the stadium and grades each player from 0 to 10. The best averages in each position take the Bola de Prata. The best average of all takes the Bola de Ouro. So this is their team:

GOALKEEPER:
Victor (Grêmio)

RIGHTBACK:
Jonathan (Cruzeiro)

CENTERBACKS
André Dias (São Paulo)
Miranda (São Paulo)

LEFTBACK:
Kleber (Internacional)

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Pierre (Palmeiras)
Guiñazu (Internacional)

OFFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Marcelinho Paraiba (Coritiba)
Petkovic (Flamengo)

FORWARDS:
Diego Tardelli (Atlético-MG)
Adriano (Flamengo)

GOLDEN BALL (MVP OF THE TOURNAMENT):
Adriano (Flamengo)

The team of the Craque Brasileirão Prize, award handed by CBF, is chosen in a different way. Players, coaches and journalists vote on the players they think were the best:

GOALKEEPER:
Victor (Grêmio)

RIGHTBACK:
Jonathan (Cruzeiro)

CENTERBACKS
André Dias (São Paulo)
Miranda (São Paulo)

LEFTBACK:
Júlio César (Goiás)

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Hernanes (São Paulo)
Guiñazu (Internacional)

OFFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS:
Diego Souza (Palmeiras)
Petkovic (Flamengo)

FORWARDS:
Diego Tardelli (Atlético-MG)
Adriano (Flamengo)

MVP OF THE TOURNAMENT:
Diego Souza (Palmeiras)

CBF also hands the following awards:

BEST COACH:
Andrade (Flamengo)

BEST NEW TALENT:
Fernandinho (Barueri)

BEST PLAYER CHOSEN BY THE FANS:
Conca (Fluminense)

Messi Takes Ballon D’Or Award

Ana — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:32:46 +0000

Yep, it was him. As predicted Lionel Messi took France Football’s Ballon D’Or award. He is the first Argentinian to ever take it and one of the youngest ones ever to take home the Golden Ball. Messi had 473 votes against 233 to C. Ron and 170 to Xavi Hernandez. Kaká was 6th with 58 votes.

Congrats, well deserved.

Ballon D’Or: France Football Announces The 10 Finalists

Ana — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:24:13 +0000

There used to be 30… now the contestants for the Ballon D’Or, France Football Magazine annual award, are down to 10. The winner (as well as the 10 player shortlist) is selected by many European journalists and will be announced tomorrow, December 1st. Cristiano Ronaldo took it last year and I find it hard he will get it again but you never know. A little bird told me Messi is the one to take it this year.

The lucky 10 are:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Manchester United and Real Madrid)
Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire, Chelsea)
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, Barcelona and Inter Milan)
Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Inter Milan and Barcelona)
Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona)
Kaka (Brazil, Milan Milan and Real Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona)
Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United)
Xavi (Spain, Barcelona)

Ronaldinho gets the Golden Foot award

Ana — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:02:53 +0000

I know this sounds a bit weird given the circumstances and the fact that Ronaldinho hasn’t played good football since 2006. But yes, he won the Golden Foot award. As we know, though, the point of the award is to celebrate a player’s (the ones over 28 years old) career and overall accomplishments, judged by a jury made of international journalists.

When you look at it that way, Ronaldinho really deserves this. At one point there was no player on earth who played better football. Today he beat Buffon (Juventus), Henry (Barcelona) and Raúl (Real Madrid) to take home the prize in Monaco. Others on the run for the Golden Foot were: Figo (retired), Totti (Roma), Trezeguet (Juventus), Gerrard (Liverpool), Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy) and Giggs (Manchester United).

Well deserved? I think so.

C. Ronaldo takes Ballon d’Or … obviously.

Ana — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:05:14 +0000

It was news today but not really. C. Ronaldo, as predicted, took home France Football’s Ballon d’Or award. Well deserverded, I guess. Hopefully cocky land levels won’t rise after that. Leo Messi took second, and Fernando Torres, from Spain, was third.

It was taking too long: C. Ronaldo gets cocky.

Ana — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:53:32 +0000

He is a great footballer. But when C. Ronaldo gets on cocky land, I feel like taking away all his merits and achievements. Today he pretty much told France’s L’Equipe that no one else deserves France Football’s Ballo D’Or but him (he’s a simple guy, you know…). He says he has had a stable year and won all major competitions with Manchester: Premiership and Champions League. On top of that he reminds us that he also scored more goals that pretty much anyone this past year. A little detail: on the Champions League final, C-Ron actually missed his penalty. So on a crucial time like that he failed.

I’ll take on point out for that.

So keep the cockyness to yourself and shush just for a little bit. We all know how good you’ve done and the mistakes you’ve made. And yes, we all already know you are taking Ballon D’Or and FIFA Player of the Year.

C. Ronaldo takes FIFPro award.

Ana — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:16:38 +0000

2008 is the year of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Manchester United superstar took home the FIFPro award as the world’s best in 2008. And he should be proud (not cocky). Winning the FIFPro – Fédération Internationale Des Associations de Footballeurs Professionels – award means that Ronaldo got chosen as #1 by his fellow players. And as award season approaches, I would be amazed if anyone else takes FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon D’or. So we’ll be seeing plenty more C-Ron in the next few weeks.

C. Ronaldo: Europe’s best (says UEFA)

Ana — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:11:37 +0000

image: uefa.com

Today the world was introduced to the group stages fo the Champions League. However another life changing event (not!) took place in Monaco today. UEFA gave out glory and shinny prizes to the best guys on pitch last season. Beau C. Ronaldo received the award of best player. Petr Čech mantained his crown up and shinning with best goalkeeper award (he holds the throne for the 2nd consecutive year). John Terry took the defender one home along with Frank Lampard who got best midfielder. C. Ronaldo, once again, took best forward. Chelsea did quite well after all!