ZURICH: For the third time, Cristiano Ronaldo was voted the world’s best football player.

The Portugal and Real Madrid forward hopes it also brought him closer to being remembered as one of the greatest of all time after he lifted the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the second year running on Monday in an overwhelming win over eternal rival Lionel Messi, Barcelona’s Argentine magician.

Ronaldo polled more than double the number of votes as Messi who only just edged Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer into third place.

He was the star of a glittering awards ceremony in Zurich at which Real Madrid team-mate James Rodriguez won the Puskas award for the best goal, a spectacular volley on the turn for Colombia in their World Cup match against Uruguay.

Joachim Loew won the Coach of the Year of the award after leading Germany to the World Cup title in Brazil, finishing ahead of Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone in the poll.

Nadine Kessler of VfL Wolfsburg and Germany beat two former winners — Marta of Brazil and United States forward Abby Wambach — to win the women’s Player of the Year award.

A German man also won the coaching award for women’s football: Ralf Kellermann was rewarded for leading a Wolfsburg team including Kessler to back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles. The shortlist included Japan coach Norio Sasaki and Maren Meinert, who guided Germany to win the Women’s Under-20 World Cup.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter gave his annual award to 90-year-old Japanese journalist Hiroshi Kagawa, who worked at his 10th World Cup in Brazil. The Fair Play award went to FIFA tournament volunteer workers.

Ronaldo led Real to their 10th European Champions League crown — their first in 12 years — in sensational style in 2014, smashing Messi’s record of 15 Champions League goals in a single season with 17 in just 11 appearances.

The only real disappointment for him was that a knee injury contributed to an underwhelming World Cup for the Portugal captain but he won 37.66 percent of the vote, compared to 15.76 for Messi and 15.72 for Neuer.

Ronaldo’s latest hat-trick tied him with Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo of Brazil on three FIFA awards. The original Ballon d’Or presented by France Football magazine was won by European standouts Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten three times each.

Only Messi’s four FIFA awards is ahead of the 29-year-old Ronaldo, whose Real side again seem better placed for trophies in 2015 than his rival’s Barca.

“I want to become one of the greatest players of all time,” Ronaldo said through a translator in his acceptance speech. “Of course, this requires a lot of effort and I hope to get there. I never thought that I would bring this trophy back home on three occasions and I want to win it again.”

The award has turned almost turned into a personal duel between Ronaldo — who topped the voting in 2008, 2013 and 2014 — and Messi.

Messi won four years in a row from 2009 to 2012, with Ronaldo finishing second on three occasions. Only Andres Iniesta, runner-up in 2010, has managed to break the duopoly.

Ronaldo retained football’s highest individual honour after scoring 61 goals last year whilst also helping Real take the Club World Cup title last month to cap a Spanish-record 22-match winning streak.

Messi, meanwhile, became the all-time leading scorer in La Liga and the Champions League and was more prominent internationally, helping Argentina reach their first World Cup final since 1990 where they lost 1-0 to Germany.

Neuer was a key figure for Germany and redefined the goalkeeper’s role by often coming out of his area to clear attacks, almost in a sweeper’s role.

Ronaldo, Messi and Neuer were also among seven players from 2013 who retained their places in the 2014 FIFPro World XI team.

FIFPro Team of the Year:

Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich); Sergio Ramos (Spain/Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Brazil/Paris St Germain), David Luiz (Brazil/Paris St Germain), Philipp Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich); Andres Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Angel Di Maria (Argentina/Manchester United; Arjen Robben (Netherlands/Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid).

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2015

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