Argentina and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, still only 24, won the soccer World Player of the Year award for the third time in a row on Monday.
Real Madrid’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo was second in the vote for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or, and Messi’s Barcelona teammate Xavi third.
Messi, who inspired his Spanish team to win the Champions League, La Liga and Club World Cup, was also first last year when the award was created by joining together the separate annual prizes handed out by FIFA and France Football magazine.
Photo: EPA
“To win it three times running is a very big honor,” Messi, who also won both old awards in 2009, told the audience after being presented with the trophy by former Brazil striker Ronaldo, a three-time World Player of the Year.
No player has previously won the FIFA award three times in a row, although Michel Platini claimed the France Football prize three years in succession in the 1980s.
Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola won the coach’s award ahead of Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid.
Ferguson took the FIFA presidential award for outstanding service to the sport.
Brazil and Santos forward Neymar won the award for the goal of the year, a stunning effort in a Brazilian championship match against Flamengo.
Messi swept home with 47.88 percent of the vote in the survey among national team coaches, captains and selected media.
Ronaldo took 21.6 percent and Xavi 9.23 percent.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter heaped praise on Ferguson before handing him his prize.
“In a world in which coaches are expected to produce instant results or be changed, his longevity is a shining example of what can be achieved through stability, continuity, investment in development and trust and confidence in the personality himself,” said the Swiss, in his fourth mandate as FIFA president. “Twenty-five years managing the same club, can you imagine that today?”
Meanwhile, Japanese midfielder Homare Sawa claimed the women’s equivalent of the Ballon d’Or, after she won the Golden Boot for top scorer and the Golden Ball for player of the tournament as Japan secured their first ever women’s World Cup title in Germany.
Marta of Brazil and US striker Abby Wambach were also nominated.
Japan coach Norio Sasaki was named Women’s Coach of the Year, ahead of France coach Bruno Bini and the US’ Swedish coach Pia Sundhage.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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