Time zone: US/Eastern | Register | Login
Search:
Spain La Liga

Landslide win for Messi over Ronaldo and Xavi in 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or triumph

Angela Asante, January 9 2012,
Lionel Messi can rest assured. The Barcelona and Argentina forward will most likely retire as a widely acclaimed legend.
Messi is the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner.
Messi is the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or winner.
Related Content:
La Liga
Related Articles: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi, 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or, Barcelona
The FIFA Awards gala took place on Monday night without the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid. In fact, the stage was set for Messi to create history. The explosive play maker scooped his third straight FIFA Ballon d’Or award to match the record of France’s great Michel Platini.

Lionel Messi (44.78%) cruised to an emphatic win against the likes of nominees Cristiano Ronaldo (21.60%) and Xavi Hernandez (9.23%). Brazilian legend Ronaldo handed the prize to La Pulga, who stated afterwards:

“It’s a huge pleasure to win the third time, a big honour. I want to thank the teammates, players and coaches that voted for me. I want to thank my Barcelona and Argentina teammates, without them this would have been impossible.”

Lionel Messi added:

“But most of all, I want to share the award with Xavi: you deserve this as much as I do.”

Ahead of the ceremony, the poll’s result on Francefootball.fr showed a different angle of soccer fans’ opinion. Out of 2835 votes, Cristiano Ronaldo clinched 1778 votes (62.72%). Messi got 879 votes (31.01%) while Xavi finished way behind with 177 points (6.24%).

In other news, Homare Sawa of Japan dethroned Brazil’s Marta to become the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year. Pep Guardiola won the FIFA Men’s Coach of the Year, Sir Alex Ferguson took the Presidential Award and Neymar beat Wayne Rooney and Messi to clinch the FIFA Puskas Award.

The FIFA/FIFPRO XI lined up the following players: Iker Casillas; Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Nemanja Vidic; Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Xavi; Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney.

Related Articles

Member Sign In »

Username Password
Forgot Password | Remember
Not a Member Yet? Register Now