Christiano Ronaldo Wins the FIFA Ballon d’Or Award for 2014, Beating Messi


By Oliver Ngwenya    13-Jan-2015 09:55 UTC+02:00
Christiano Ronaldo with the FIFA Ballon d'Or award. Image: The DNA India.

Christiano Ronaldo with the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.
Image: The DNA India.

Christiano Ronaldo has once again won the top football award, the FIFA Ballon d’Or award. The trophy was presented to him in a ceremony held in Kongresshuis, Zurich, Germany on Monday, the 15th of January, 2015. He beat his bitter rival, Lionel Messi who came second in a race that seems to have become a bitter rivalry between the two players. Ronaldo, who escaped the wrath of the voters despite his national team, Portugal’s poor showing in last years’s FIFA World Cup, promised the audience that he wanted to be one of the best players of all time.

The two players who both ply their trade in Spain have turned this prestigious award into a two man affair and this year, in particular, they turned it into a numbers affair. Christiano Ronaldo scored 51 goals in 47 appearances to lead his Real Madrid to its record 10th consecutive tittle as well as the Kings Cup. This was including 17 goals in the Champions League which is another record for a single season of the top European teams. At international level, Ronaldo was instrumental in helping his native Portugal go as far as they did in the FIFA World Cup with a total of 52 goals.

Lionel Messi, on the other hand has been more influential in helping his country reach the finals of the FIFA World Cup which they eventually lost to Germany by one goal to nil. At club level, Messi managed to smash two essential records with two hat tricks in a space of four days taking his tally to 253 while his Champions League total is an all time high of 74 goals.

With Ronaldo and Messi was also the Bayern Munich and German goal minder, Manuel Neuer who was nominated third in the run for the prestigious award. The Coach of the Year went to Joachim Loew most likely for leading his country in a successful FIFA World Cup campaign in which pipped Argentina. Another German, Nadine Kessler of VfL Wolfsburg came away with the Women’s a Player of the Year while James Rodriguez of Columbia was awarded the Puskas, which if given to the player who scores the most spectacular goal of the year. This was for the volley that he netted in their FIFA World Cup match against Uruguay.


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