BERLIN, July 4: Cristiano Ronaldo, who is being criticised for his role in getting Wayne Rooney sent off in Portugal’s quarter-final win over England, is a leading candidate to win the World Cup’s best young player award.

All players born on or after Jan 1, 1985, who play in the World Cup are eligible. One of the criteria for winning the award is “Positive attitude — Fair Play.”

Fans can cast their vote on FIFAworldcup.com. Those ballots will be counted after the semi-finals, with the top three joining three other players chosen by FIFA’s technical study group for the final shortlist.

The winner will be chosen by the technical study group and announced on Friday.

As of Monday, Ecuador’s Luis Valencia was leading the fan voting with 170,524 or 26 percent, ahead of Ronaldo at 153,665 or 23 per cent, Argentina’s Lionel Messi was third at 108,848 or 16 per cent and Germany’s Lukas Podolski fourth at 40,413 or six per cent.

Rooney was fifth with 26,646 or four per cent.—AP