Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his fourth Ballon d’Or award last month and now latest reports from Spanish press claim that the Real Madrid superstar has already won the FIFA Best Player of the Year award. The award is set to be announced later tonight with FIFA already having announced Ronaldo, Messi and Griezmann as the top 3 contenders.
The Portuguese superstar has had a stunning 2016 having guided Real Madrid to their 11th Champions League title and winning the Euro 2016 Championships with Portugal in July. Recently, he also scored a hat-trick in Club World Cup final against Kashima Antlers to give Real Madrid their third trophy this year.
While Ronaldo was a controversial Ballon d’Or winner for some, Spanish daily Mundo Deportivo has allegedly blown the lid on the FIFA Best Player ceremony saying that Ronaldo has already won the prestigious award.
Also read: Ballon d'Or 2016: 11 players who received 0 votes
According to Mundo Deportivo, Messi has fared better in the voting this time than the Ballon d’Or award where he lost out on a massive margin to Ronaldo, but he is still set to miss out on the top position to Ronaldo.
French superstar Antoine Greizmann has reportedly come third once again following up on his third place finish at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. If these reports are true, fans will get to see an identical podium once again with Ronaldo 1st, Messi 2nd and Griezmann 3rd.
Ronaldo has shown no signs of slowing down this year, After being named the Player of the Tournament in the FIFA Club World Cup, Ronaldo in a press release said:
“They always expect more of Cristiano. It's been a week full of joy after winning the Ballon d'Or too. I thank my team-mates because without them Cristiano couldn't win these individual awards.”
The stats don't lie, as always. People criticise me often but I'm used to it. I've shown my quality on the pitch for many years and I had a spectacular season for Real Madrid and Portugal.”
Also read: How you can vote for your favourites in the BEST FIFA Awards
This year, for the first time since 2009, Ballon d’Or (France Football) and FIFA have split which means that there will be two awards. While the Ballon d’Or award was decided by votes from 173 journalists from all over the world, the FIFA Best Player of the year will be decided by votes from Captains and coaches of all the FIFA associated nations with some weightage given to fans votes as well.
While Messi won both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best Player of the Year in 2009, Ronaldo is set to repeat the brace and cement his position as the best football player in 2016.
