Most would agree that the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards are the two biggest individual honours a footballer can win. Bigger even than my Netherton Colts East U-14 Manager's Player of the Year Runner-Up trophy (pictured?). But which award is really the one to win? The Ballon d'Or has the [. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you enjoy the Top 30 A-League Goals of All Time (so far)... English football 1991-92 season in review (EPL Talk) FM2010: Digital Sunderland is the new digital Newcastle (Football Manager Offside) End of an era at Pro Vercelli (Run of Play) Ten players who played into their 40s (Podcast Offside) An alternative take on the Ballon [. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you enjoy the Top 30 A-League Goals of All Time (so far)... English football 1991-92 season in review (EPL Talk) FM2010: Digital Sunderland is the new digital Newcastle (Football Manager Offside) End of an era at Pro Vercelli (Run of Play) Ten players who played into their 40s (Podcast Offside) An alternative take on the Ballon [. Click to continue reading...

FIFA has announced its shortlist of 23 players for the Men's World Player of the Year award, and 10 players for the Women's World Player of the Year Award. National team captains and coaches will now vote (but not for players from their own country) and this final five will be revealed in early December, with the winners announced at FIFA's World Player bash in Zurich on December 21st.

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Argentine ace and Barcelona star Lionel Messi has had quite a year. After leading Barcelona to an unprecedented treble in the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Ray he is now up for both the Ballon d'Or (European footballer of the year) and the equally prestigious FIFA World Player of the Year.

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At the Euro 2008 Semi Final, I love this picture! Thanks to whoever who took it.

Two of Arsenal's holy trinity have been nominated for this prestigious award. The third component of this trinity, Robin van Persie  curiously has been ignored. Since November 2008, Robin has been the most consistent Gooner full stop.

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Europa sucht wieder einmal, sucht nach dem Ballon d'Or, dem besten Fussballer 2009. Wie jedes Jahr geht die Wahl von der französischen Sportzeitung „France Football" aus und wie jedes Jahr gibt es im Vorfeld der Wahl eine Liste der Nominierten. Deutsche Spieler sind dieses Jahr nicht mit dabei, dafür aber zwei aktuelle Bundesligaspieler. Click to continue reading...

Who deserves the plaudits?

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Veteran Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs is one of five British footballers nominated for the 2009 European Player of the Year award.

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France Football magazine has announced the following 30 nominees for their 2009 Golden Ball (Ballon D'Or) Award:
Andrei Arshavin (Russia and Arsenal)
Karim Benzema (France and OL/Real Madrid)
Iker Casillas (Spain and Real Madrid)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal and Manchester United/Real Madrid)
Diego (Brazil and Werder Bremen/Juventus)
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast and Chelsea)
Edin Dzeko (Bosnia and Wolfsburg)
Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon and Barcelona/Inter Milan)
Cesc Fabregas (Spain and Arsenal)
Fernando Torres (Spain and Liverpool)
Diego Forlan (Uruguay and Atletico Madrid)
Steven Gerrard (England and Liverpool)
Ryan Giggs (Wales and Manchester United)
Yoann Gourcuff (France and Bordeaux)
Thierry Henry (France and Barcelona)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden and Inter Milan/Barcelona)
Andres Iniesta (Spain and Barcelona)
Julio Cesar (Brazil and Inter Milan)
Kaka' (Brazil and AC Milan/Real Madrid)
Frank Lampard (England and Chelsea)
Maicon (Brazil and Inter Milan)
Lionel Messi (Argentina and Barcelona)
Luis Fabiano (Brazil and FC Seville)
Franck Ribery (France and Bayern Munich)
Wayne Rooney (England and Manchester United)
John Terry (England and Chelsea)
Nemanja Vidic (Serbia and Manchester United)
David Villa (Spain and Valencia)
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The nominations are out for this year's Ballon d'Or, last years winner Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the favourites to win. The European champions Spain are the best represented nation with six players listed, whilst the La Liga boasts the most players from a single league with twelve. The Premier League is next best with ten [. Click to continue reading...

Why does the Premier League produce so few Ballon d'Or winners? This year's edition of the Champions League has followed the script so far, and unless a major upset occurs in the quarter-finals, then at least one English team will be in the finals for the fifth straight year. One oft-cited reason for this dominance is that [. Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2008. Already crowned European Footballer of the Year 2008, Ronaldo added to his trophy collection with the ultimate accolade for any footballer. Born in 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo has reached the peak of his profession in just a few short years. Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2008. Already crowned European Footballer of the Year 2008, Ronaldo added to his trophy collection with the ultimate accolade for any footballer. Born in 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo has reached the peak of his profession in just a few short years. Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, FIFA World Footballer of the Year 2008. Already crowned European Footballer of the Year 2008, Ronaldo added to his trophy collection with the ultimate accolade for any footballer. Born in 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Ronaldo has reached the peak of his profession in just a few short years. Click to continue reading...

Big year for Andrei Arshavin. The I-may-look-twelve-but-I'm-almost-twenty-seven-I-swear Zenit attacker - whether he wants to be or not - has finally come big over in Western Europe with a wildly successful European Championships and a UEFA Cup title for his boyhood team. All of which went over well with the Ballon D'Or voters, who hold UEFA [. Click to continue reading...

Big year for Andrei Arshavin. The I-may-look-twelve-but-I'm-almost-twenty-seven-I-swear Zenit attacker - whether he wants to be or not - has finally come big over in Western Europe with a wildly successful European Championships and a UEFA Cup title for his boyhood team. All of which went over well with the Ballon D'Or voters, who hold UEFA [. Click to continue reading...

When punishment doesn't fit the crime. One of history's greatest dives. Video games will help you become a better athlete. Who's your fan/man crush? How will the recession impact the January transfer window? Italian football's resident gigolo. Is there a better candidate for the Ballon d'Or? Why Zizou is not Zizi. Click to continue reading...

The Ballon d'Or is nothing if not a lightning rod for controversy and year-long verbal sparring matches with inflatable gloves. Yes, some deserving players win it. Others not so deserving also win it. In short, it's like nearly every other award handed out by any other organization in the world. But perhaps worth the debate is [. Click to continue reading...

Chalk up one more trophy for CR7, this one the biggest and most important one of them all. In a decision that surprised no one given the player's outstanding performances over the past year (both domestically and in Europe), French magazine France Football has handed its prestigious Ballon d'Or award to Cristiano Ronaldo. Click to continue reading...

Nope, it's not Leo Messi or Fernando Torres. It's Mohamed Aboutrika, the Al-Ahly and Egypt playmaker. In an excellent article on the Guardian's sports blog yesterday, Paul Doyle suggests Aboutrika is a more worthy winner. Here's why: Aboutrika has not only matched C-Ron's achievement of winning the Egyptian league and the African Champions League with Al-Ahly, [. Click to continue reading...

News today is that Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2008 Ballon d'Or, awarded after 96 football journalists voted from a shortlist of 30 players. Except it's not really news is it? Because we all knew he'd won it long before the votes were in. Just like in 2007, when we all knew Kaka would be [...] Click to continue reading...

When you've got a well established image as a perma-tanned prima dona, a little humility goes a long way. Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't have a little humility to go anywhere. Here's what he told Gazzetta dello Sport about his chances of winning the FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or awards this year: "Sincerely, [. Click to continue reading...

We are coming up on that time of the year when the next three months we will dress up as someone or something, eat some turkey or some bird till we get fat, and open some presents from our families that we will probably return 2 weeks later. It is also the time when the [...] Click to continue reading...

The Ballon d'Or shortlist is out, and it's even shorter than usual. France Football usually names 50 players before voting, but this year it's only 30. Presumably because we all know who's going to win already, don't we? Various football journalists will now cast their vote, before naming Cristiano Ronaldo the winner. Click to continue reading...

Have you ever known that the percentage of outlandish news and rumors seems to spike during international breaks? You know, stuff like finding Cesc & Sergio Ramos dotting Milan's lineup next year. Or seeing Juventus switch their interest from one Merseyside-based Spaniard (Xaba) to another (Rafa). Click to continue reading...

Reports from the Italian media are to be taken with a half of half of a grain of salt...and reports from the Italian media state that the two new favorites for the Ballon D'Or are Fernando Torres and Iker Casillas of Spain. However, it can't be a huge surprise because those who select the award [...] Click to continue reading...

The second-best player in Europe...
24 Ballon D'Or (European Footballer of the Year) Runners-up Who Never Did Win The Trophy
1. Billy Wright (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 1957
2. Ferenc Puskas (Real Madrid) - 1960
3. Gianni Rivera (Milan) - 1960
4. Bobby Moore (West Ham United) - 1970
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And the award for the least surprising award of the year goes to... Kaká - winner of the 2007 Ballon d'Or.
I guess even the most ardent fan of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi's talents wouldn't have felt cheated seeing the AC Milan midfielder pick up the Football of the Year award, and would have just accepted it as the 'correct result'. Click to continue reading...

United's Cristiano Ronaldo came, not surprisingly, runner-up to AC Milan's Brazilian star Kaka who has been named World footballer of The Year after winning the most votes to secure France Football magazine's prestigous Ballon d'Or award.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi came third in the voting. Click to continue reading...

1. Kakà (Milan, Brazil) 2. Robinho (Real Madrid, Brazil) 3. Lionel Messi (F.C. Barcelona, Argentina) 4. Cesc Fábregas (Arsenal, Spain) 5. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid, Netherlands) 6. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, Portugal) 7. Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast) 8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter de Milan, Sweden) 9. Click to continue reading...