The President of Santos has confirmed that five clubs are prepared to match the €45 million fee needed to woo star striker Neymar away from Brazil.

The clubs in question include European champions Barcelona, English duo Chelsea and Manchester City, Real Madrid and Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala with President Luis Alvaro Ribeiro suggesting that the South American champions are willing to start the bidding process at €45 million.

Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo believe that this goal from Glentoran striker Matthew Burrows against Portadown should have got the Goal of the Year at the Ballon d'Or Awards night and not Hamid Altintops goal.

By Chris Wright

Holland eased to a 3-1 victory over Austria in their international friendly last night thanks to goals from Dirk Kuyt, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and this superbly deft first-time effort from Mr Wesley Sneijder...

Ballon d'Or? What Ballon d'Or?

So our friends at Barca sent this cool video as part of the club's new campaign to foster "healthy eating habits". In it, Lionel Messi appears as a cross between the a 14-year-old version of himself and Tin Tin the detective. "I know that if I train and eat well, I will win the Ballon d'Or," he drawls lazily, clearly unaware they would be using this footage again 10 years later.

It's the results of the Ballon D'or tonight with Barcelona trio Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta battling it out for the most prestigious individual footballing prize. Fact time then...

Michael Owen was the last British footballer to win the Ballen D'or (European footballer of the year.

Messi beat out his Barcelona teammates Xavi and Iniesta to scoop the Ballon d'Or for 2010. Messi was in sensational form Barcelona last season as was his colleagues. This is not the first time Messi has won this award as he was honored last season as well. This year the competition was even tougher as Barcelona did not clean up as in the previous season.

Messi won the Ballon d'Or last night he was named the best player in the world in 2010. Not Xavi. Not Iniesta. Not Sneijder. And not a single (Fantasy) Premier League player in sight. La Liga's dominance continues on ... Continue reading →

Leo Messi was wearing a dickie bow last night. Proof, some said with a smile, that he knew he was going to be awarded with a second successive Ballon d'Or – after all, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta were only in ties. But he didn't know: amid all the shock, the disgust and the pathetic patriotic paranoia, the man most surprised at Messi's award was Messi.

I am not only a football fan but I also enjoy reading a good magazine and looking at beautiful women. You can do that also in this month's edition of FHM, featuring Nicole Scherzinger. Yeah, I'm sure you know her, but you can also find a lot of other great articles. Find out more about that here: http://www.

Lionel Messi is being fined between €2,000 ($2,736) and €3,000 ($4,105) and will also receive a yellow card for wishing his mother a Happy Birthday. The Barcelona player celebrated his penalty against Racing Santander by lifting his shirt up to reveal an undershirt with Feliz Cumpleaños Mami written on it.

Time to beat the Blaugrana..

The football-ing world has been buzzing with excitement. A contest that will be relished by everybody is in store. We here at 11G are just as excited about the Champions League encounter as any of you fans out there. Yes! Barcelona is coming to the Emirates; again.

In diversen Branchen gibt es bereits den Mindestlohn und die Gewerkschaften kämpfen immer weiter, damit es bald überall einen Mindestlohn gibt. Jetzt haben sie einen neuerlichen Erfolg erzielt, mit dem bisher niemand gerechnet hat, geschweige denn überhaupt für notwendig angsehen hat. Es ist die Spielergewerkschaft VDV, die einen Tarifvertrag für Fussballer der 1.

Jedes Jahr in der Sommerpause wird aufs neue der Spieler der abgelaufenen Saison gewählt. Irreführenderweise nennt man das Ganze dann Spieler des Jahres, obwohl die Saison immer von einem Jahr in ein neues Jahr rübergeht. Das aber soll uns nicht groß stören, der Begriff ist nun mal und wir haben ja sowieso wichtigeres zu tun, [.

Ruud Gullit is growing back his famous moustache in support of men's health charity Movember.
Movember, the month formally known as November, challenges men across to show their support for men's health by growing a Mo (slang for moustache) throughout the month, and this year Ruud Gullit will be rising to the challenge by growing back his iconic moustache.

FELIZ MARTES! The shortlist for the Women's FIFA Ballon d'Or has been announced and surprise, surprise, three of the names drawn are from the US national team. The winners, Japan, also have two possible winners in the list, as do France. Abby Wambach (seen above with a fan), Hope Solo and Aya Miyama are a few of the key names but all these talented futbolitas are all winners in their own right.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Forget the Ballon d'Or, here are the Barn Door nominations from the talkSPORT listeners: Torres, Carroll, Berbatov or Bendtner?

Are these the most underwhelming players?

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-07 09:00:00 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

MADRID, Spain -Ballon d'Or finalists Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta scored to lead Barcelona to its 12th straight Spanish league win in a 4-0 victory at Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday. Messi played David Villa clear into the right side of the area before the Spain striker squeezed a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia [.

In a week that has seen the Christian festival of Epiphany come and pass, the world was reminded of the day that three very wise men from the East came and paid homage to an even more special baby boy.

Theology aside, the similarities bestowing the football world to this most sacred of Christian holidays can be drawn.

By Dominic Vieira, writing from Portugal

Tonight the answer to the everlasting debate is finally revealed in Zurich, will Iniesta, Messi or Xavi win the newly created FIFA Ballon d'Or? For the first time in 21 years the top 3 prizes will be awarded to players from one club, FC Barcelona.

Lionel Messi deservedly picked up the Ballon d'Or today beating fellow team-mates Xavi and Andreas Iniesta in doing so. To be fair the guy had an awesome year with Barcelona, however his World Cup was less spectacular than his opposition. It's Messi's second Ballon d'Or in a row having picked up the award last year.

Wir sind schon im Jahr 2011 und da wird es Zeit, dass man die besten Spieler und Spielerinnen des abgelaufenen Jahres 2010 kürt. Dafür hat man heute am 10. Januar 2011 auf einer große Gala in Zürich etliche Preise vergeben, allen voran den Ballon D'Or für den besten Spieler des Jahres und den Preis für [.

Choosing the winner of the 2011 Ballon D'Or seemed like a tough decision to make. Three Barcelona geniuses, all with a chance to be crowned as the best player of the world. Iniesta and Xavi had just triumphed in the World Cup with Spain, but Messi was part of an amazing season for Barcelona, scoring 43 goals in 57 matches.

Barcelona's Xavi and Barcelona's Andres Iniesta pipped at the post In surprising news today, the nailed-on favourite to win a vote conducted by FIFA has emerged as the winner of said vote. It is difficult to build a case against Lionel Messi winning the Ballon D'Or, unless you were going to make the award entirely [.

Lionel Messi thanked his team-mates Andreas Iniesta and Xavi after he claimed his Second Ballon d'Or in a row. The players drank Champagne on the return flight to Barcelona from the Award ceremony and were in great form.

The Guardian reports on Ferguson's opinion about foreign owners and sacking managers.

United Rant looks at United's January transfer window targets.

Studs Up responds to Ryan Babel's FA charge.

Dirty Tackle looks at the Ballon d'Or voting system.

The Chelsea Blog wonders whether Liverpool are dipping in their bin.

Seems about that time of year again where we can get a decent look at the ESM Golden Shoe, which goes to the man who gives Ray Hudson the most pants disturbances.

At this point last year, it seemed that Wayne Rooney was running away with it...that is unless a certain Mighty Mouse named Lionel Messi could come good.

Waldorf and Statler, famous Muppets

There are still miracles in the world. Hungarian player Simon walked into De Kuip. Transfer free. Feyenoord tested him in several matches and is certain: the lad is better than PSV's Balász Dzsudzsák.

Mark van Bommel said he's sabotage the Ballon D'Or next year again.

The FA Cup third round games and the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool's manager dominated the football news in England, while in other news Messi was awarded the Ballon d'Or, the Asia Cup got underway and Inter returned to form in Serie A under new manager Leonardo. Check out languagecaster.

I called in sick to work this morning. I usually only get sick once a year so here it was. After finally managing to get out of bed I plopped down in front of the computer and pulled up the ol' Twitter box to see what was going on in what appeared to be a painfully slow soccer day.
Midway through the morning, though, the Twitter box started rocking.

This should have been posted last Friday but got lost in the shuffle. What do you think is going on in Greasano's head as he looks to his left and sees six little cules pose for the Ballon d'Or dream team of 2010? On the last La Liga Weekly podcast, A New Year And Copa del Rey Beginning there was some discussion on David Villa not being part of the Barca wolf pack as he was officially.

Es ist nicht Real Madrid, der FC Barcelona auch nicht. Manchester United wäre es vielleicht gerne, ist es aber auch nicht. Sind es am Ende vielleicht gar die Bayern aus München? Oder hat sich ein Neureicher Russe einen Fussballklub gekauft und ihn mit Geld zugeballert und so heimlich zum größten Team Europas gemacht?

Choosing the winner of the 2011 Ballon D'Or seemed like a tough decision to make. Three Barcelona geniuses, all with a chance to be crowned as the best player of the world. Iniesta and Xavi had just triumphed in the World Cup with Spain, but Messi was part of an amazing season for Barcelona, scoring 43 goals in 57 matches.

Der Castingwahn nimmt einfach kein Ende. Mit „Deutschland sucht den Superstar", „Germany's Next Topmodel", „Popstars", „Unser Supertalent" oder auch „Star Search" hat man schon genug populistische Talentsendungen und wenn man sich die vollständige Liste der Castingshows anschaut, dann hat Deutschland schon viel zu viele Sendungen von diesem Format.

Not bad... for a girl Anyone who criticises the standard of women's football obviously hasn't got enough Marta in their life. Take this goal she scored last weekend, for instance. The Brazilian won the women's FIFA Ballon D'or last month when Lionel Messi picked up the men's version, and she displayed truly Messi-esque dribbling, pace, [.

I'm not going to lead with the Chelsea highlights. I'm not going to lead with the Chelsea highlights. I'm NOT going to lead with the Chelsea... hello? Oh, there aren't any Chelsea highlights? But what about the 70 million pounds they spent in January? Torres and David Luiz played, you say? Well I'm sure Liverpool countered with their expensive January signings, right?

The focus now swings away from domestic play to international games, and there are some classic fixtures, with France hosting Brazil, Italy travelling to Germany and Portugal taking on Argentina in Geneva.

France v Brazil
France v Brazil evokes memories of several classic encounters between the two sides, not least the 1998 FIFA World Cup final in Paris when the hosts emerged triumphant.

The Argentinian Football Association (AFA) presented today Argentina's new kit, to be used in Copa America. The home kit is quite nice, the away not at all. Messi is looking rather nice though...

Related posts:

1. Messi Takes Ballon D'Or Award
2. Messi novel resolved.

Soccer24 Czech Knight who wowed in ‘62 - http://www.fifa.com/classic... 5 hours ago from FIFA.com - News - Comment - Like Josef Masopust thrust Dukla Prague to eight league titles and Czechoslovakia into the FIFA World Cup Final. FIFA.com pays tribute to a midfielder who won the Ballon d'Or and was named his nation's player of the century.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has moved to squash any talk about his current Barcelona side being the best football team ever.

Pundits and footballing experts the world over have lauded the current Barcelona side as the greatest team ever to have graced the beautiful game, both past and present with their immaculate close ball possession, superb and elegant passing game and devastating potency in front of goal particularly striking a chord with experts from around the globe.