Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the second year running and the
third overall on Monday after a prolific, trophy-filled year with Real
Madrid.
The
Portuguese forward won 37.66 percent of the vote to finish well ahead of Lionel
Messi, his bitter rival, who won 15.76 per cent.
“I would
like to thank all of those who voted for me, It
has been an incredible year. I would like to continue the work that I have done
so far. I want to try to improve, to become better as each day goes
by".
"I
never thought that I would bring this trophy back home on three occasions and I
want to win it again. I want to become one of the greatest players of all
time,” Ronaldo said after accepted the trophy.
Bayern
Munich and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was marginally behind in third,
polling 15.72 percent in the annual poll run jointly by football's governing
body and France Football magazine.
The votes
are cast by the captains and coaches of each national team plus one journalist
from each country.
Joachim
Loew was voted Coach of the Year after leading Germany to the World Cup title
in Brazil. He finished ahead of Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti and Atletico Madrid's
Diego Simeone in the poll.
Meanwhile
Nadine Kessler won the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award. The 26-year-old
collected 17.52 per cent of the vote and finished ahead of five-time winner
Marta and USA striker Abby Wambach at a ceremony in Zurich.
"My
heart is beating so fast! After the tragedy of losing Junior Malanda at our
club, we are having trouble coming to terms with understanding what has
happened in the last few days,” Kessler said.
“I would
like to say thank you to a great many people, my coach and my teammates,
without their work this achievement would not have been possible.
“I will
share this award with all of those people,” she added.
Ronaldo scored 51 goals in 47 matches last season as Real secured a
record-extending 10th Champions League title and won the King's Cup.
His tally
included 17 goals in the Champions League, a record for a single edition of a
Europe's elite club competition.
Since
then, he has added the Club World Cup title to his collection, has scored a
stunning 26 goals in 17 La Liga matches and looks set to looks set to smash the
biggest total for a season in Spain's top flight of 50 scored by Messi in
2011-12.
All that
was enough to overlook a disappointing World Cup where Portugal went out in the
first round and Ronaldo mustered only one goal.
However,
he still became Portugal's all-time leading scorer and his goal haul for his
country stands at 52 in 117 appearances.
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