Since the three nominees for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 trophy were revealed back on 5th December, we have been waiting with bated breath for the award to be handed out. That day has arrived and the three nominees from La Liga, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Lionel Messi and Xavi of Barcelona, will be hoping they’re victorious tonight.
Here on Football FanCast we have been given exclusive access to the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala in Zurich and will be bringing you the latest news and behind-the-scenes photographs from the event. Will Messi win his third Ballon d’Or trophy in a row, or can Xavi or Ronaldo pip the Argentina forward to the award?
Check out the latest from the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala below…
12.30pm
Braving the cold blustery winds of Zurich, Football FanCast has arrived at this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala to celebrates football’s most outstanding moments of the past year. There are several different awards that will be handed out this evening and we will announce the winners as and when they are announced.
Award Categories
-FIFA’s Ballon d’or
-FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year
-FIFA’s coaches of the year for Men and Women’s game
-FIFA’s Team of the Year
-FIFA’s Presidential Award
-FIFA’s Puskas Award
-FIFA’s Fair Play Award
Remember to hit our Facebook page – (http://www.facebook.com/FootballFanCast) to see updates and pictures of the day.
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Lionel Messi is clearly the hot favourite among the gathered journalists, with Ronaldo coming in a close second. Nobody is giving Xavi much of a chance, which is a shame because if anyone is deserving of such an accolade then it is the Barcelona Legend.
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2.30pm
Women press conference has commenced and the opening exchanges is talking up the ‘Live Your Goals’ campaign http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/liveyourgoals/aboutthecampaign/.
Homare Sawa, Abby Wambach and Marta are on stage with Sawa and Wambach looking back and talking about the past 12 months and the Women’s World Cup in particular; where Japan’s Homare Sawa (who took a clean sweep of the player awards in Germany) defeated USA’s Abby Wambach in the final.
Marta is happy to continue playing in the USA and help re-establish the League to its former glories, but hasn’t ruled out a move to Europe in the future. Abby Wambach likewise is unsure where her future lies, especially with it being an Olympic Year.
Not many questions from the floor, but those on stage were very excited about the gala this evening.
A list below of the candidates for the Player of the year for both the men and the women’s award
http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/playeroftheyear/index.html
3pm
We have now reached the FIFA Interactive World Cup to find the best gaming player on the planet. Over 900k players entered LIVE qualifying events around the World, with each of the winners going on to Grand Final, along with the six regional winners from the FIFA 12 Playstation Network.
After three days of gaming took place to find its eventual winner and after a 4-1 victory in an epic final at Los Angeles’s Mayan Theatre, Francisco Cruz from Portugal was crowned the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2011 champion.
You can watch the final here:
[youtube _GpZG_HEjo8]
Francisco Cruz looked very modest about his achievement and is looking forward to defending his title in the coming year.
Wayne Rooney presented the award to Francisco Cruz, before declaring that he is the best FIFA 12 Player at Old Trafford, although Phil Jones will like to tell you different. Rooney fancies his chances against Cruz, if a game can be organised backstage.
3.30pm
Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, Lionel Messi and Xavi enter the stage for the press conference ahead of their respective awards. Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho are not attending due to Real Madrid’s preparation against Malaga tomorrow night.
After the initial introductions of the men on stage and their achievements within the game, the floor was opened up to questions from the floor. A lot of the questions were thrown at Sir Alex, who duly answered those questions thrown at him:
When asked about whether Ole Gunnar Solksjaer will make a decent manager in the future:
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer will make a superb manager in the future and one day he could be sitting on the stage like myself and Pep Guardiola alongside me in the future. He was always destined to be a manager, given his attitude and his willingness to learn.
When pushed on whether Pep Guardiola (who has won 9 out of 12 trophies he has competed for) would be the ideal replacement for him when he finally calls it a day at Old Trafford,
Fergie smiled and asked the question, “Why would Pep want to leave Barcelona?” Fergie went on to say he believes that Barcelona are the fantastic team of the moment and feels they can certainly go on to win the Champions League.
Sir Alex Ferguson was also complimentary of Lionel Messi when asked about whether the Argentinean can be considered one of the greats of all time.
World Class footballers can play in any generation and Messi certainly believes he is in that top bracket. Guardiola concurred with Ferguson’s view that football is in the presence of one of them in Lionel Messi.
Pep Guardiola, Xavi and Lionel Messi have stressed that their success is down just as much to their teammates, rather than themselves. No more so than Iniesta in my opinion.
4pm
It never ceases to amaze me at Press Conferences the tame nature of the questions and random questions that are asked. Whoever would have thought a question about Belhadj and matches in Qatar would have been brought to the table.
As the aforementioned tame press conference and plenty of niceties exchanged as you would expect. I’m sure had a certain Mr Mourinho been up there the type and tone of questions may have been different.
We will post up the news stories from these Press Conferences later tonight, so be sure to look at our Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/FootballFanCast) for further photos and updates from the 2011 Ballon d’Or.
There is a gentle calm about the place as the players and managers go off and get themselves dolled up for this evening’s gala. I think the results will be a formality, although the FIFA World XI is by no means a guarantee.
5pm
The Media Room is clearing as the pre-show is set to commence in 20mins time. Catch the latest updates of the Ballon d’Or from our facebook and Twitter Pages – http://www.facebook.com/#!/FootballFanCast or @Football_FanCast
6pm
Kay Murray and Ruud Gullit take the stage and the Ballon d’Or gala commences.
Lionel Messi looks as cool with a look of ‘its in the bag’, while Fergie is looking round smiling round to all an sundry
Sepp Blatter gives his opening speech to the ceremony where he introducing to the audience that the likes of Beckenbauer and Pele are in the building. He is talking about the year that was 2011 and how he is keen to clean up the game.
Simone Farina comes to the stage on the request of Blatter so he can be commended for exposing those looking to match fix in Italy. Simone Farina is awarded a FIFA Award for Fair Play.
6.30pm
Pele ‘the king of football’ has come to the stage ahead of the announcement of FIFA/FIFpro World XI -Casillas, Alves, Ramos, Pique, Vidic, Ronaldo, Xavi, Alonso, Iniesta, Rooney, Messi…not a bad team.
Sepp Blatter pays a glowing tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson before bestowing him with FIFA’s Presidential Award. The Scot looks deeply touched by it all and he pays tribute to the excellent players that shared the same level of ambition and belief.
Lothar Mathaus awards Norio Sasaki with the Women’s Coach of the Year award – largely down to Japan’s World Cup success. The coach pays tribute to all the support the nation has recieved in light of the terrible earthquake that rocked their country and believes their support willed their team on to success.
7pm
Pep Guardiola wins the men’s coach of the year award. The Barcelona boss would like to pay tribute to all the people that made the football club what it is. He is deeply honoured to manage the football club and it means the world to him. Guardiola is the ultimate gentleman and a worthy winner.
Neymar wins the goal of 2011 – a worthy winner I think you will agree:
[youtube 0mQLT0_lOsM]
Homare Sawa scoops the women’s award for 2011 – no surprise giving she cleaned up the awards at the World Cup.
The Real Ronaldo comes up on stage to annouce the winner of the Ballon d’Or for 2011. Looking back at his goals just shows what a player the Brazilian was.
Lionel Messi wins the award and claims it was an absolute pleasure to win it and he wants to share it with his teammate Xavi, who it has been an absolute pleasure to play with. The Argentine took 47.88% of the vote, with Cristiano Ronaldo 2nd with 21.6%.
A wonderful occassion and I want to thank you for joining Football FanCast today at the Ballon d’Or at FIFA’s Congress Hall
You can catch further updates of this evening by following us on Facebook and twitter http://www.facebook.com/#!/FootballFanCast or @Football_FanCast