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Cristiano Ronaldo was, last night, awarded the Ballon d’Or award by FIFA for the second time in his career. The Portuguese star had missed out on the award in the previous four years to Lionel Messi but claimed the golden ball back after a truly sublime 2013.
Ronaldo scored 69 goals and provided 17 assists in a crazy year. Despite not winning a trophy, Ronaldo claimed the Ballon d’Or due to his unbelievable performances, swatting away competition from his Argentine arch-rival and Bayern Munich’s treble-winning Frenchman, Franck Ribery.
The annual awards show gives us a chance to laud the best players with praise while also debate about the winners. It also gives us a chance to see who the different international captains voted for. Some are quite a shock. Some not so much.
Argentine captain, Lionel Messi, went a bit ‘Eurovision’ on the voting, choosing Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Neymar as his top three. Tactical voting anyone?
Passang from Bhutan voted Mesut Ozil as his first choice for the award. Lionel Messiand Zlatan Ibrahimovic followed up behind the German.
Samuel Eto’o picked Eden Hazard in his top three, behind Messi and Yaya Toure.
Mario Yepes, of Colombia, chose his team-mate Falcao as first choice. Messi andFranck Ribery fall behind the Monaco goalscorer.
Gebreyes Degu Debebe chose to ignore all three of the frontrunners, instead picking Xavi, Andrea Pirlo and Thomas Muller. Clearly not a fan of the mainstream point-of-view.
Georgia’s captain, Jaba Kankava picked Iniesta, Pirlo and Edinson Cavani as his top three.
Chan Wai Ho of Hong Kong picked future Bayern Munich forward, Robert Lewandowski as his Ballon d’Or winner. Ronaldo and Falcao occupy the two places behind the Pole.
Younis Khalaf of Iraq thought Luis Suarez was deserving of a third place in his vote, with Ronaldo winning ahead of Messi.
Kyrgyzstan’s Vadim Kharchenko’s top three were Robin van Persie, Ronaldoand Pirlo.
Madagascar’s Tahina Randrianarisoa picked Thiago Silva and Gareth Bale as his top two; Messi in third.
Roderick Briffa, of Malta, chose Iniesta, Ibrahimovic and Phillip Lahm as his top three.
Martin Skrtel, Slovakia’s captain, picked his team-mate Luis Suarez as his number one. Ronaldo and Messi fell behind the striker who scored 33 goals in 2013.
Finally, Suarez also came out on top of Deigo Lugano’s vote. His Uruguayan captain chose Suarez and Cavani and his top two. Messi was in third.
In total, Cristiano Ronaldo received 148 votes from his fellow professionals. Lionel Messi was close in second with 136 and Franck Ribery gained 93 votes, placing him in third place.
Other notable mentions are Neymar who was voted for 20 times. Gareth Balewas included in 11 votes, Luis Suarez (5), Xavi (10), Arjen Robben (5) and Andrea Pirlo (12).
Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller gained four votes, Bastian Schweinsteiger was unfortunate with just three, Philipp Lahm got five and, finally, Manuel Neuer with just the one vote from Hugo Lloris.
