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Merciless Messi is World Footballer of the Year

Argentine footballer of the year Lionel Messi was named the  winner in the poll of captains and coaches of national teams to decide the World Footballer of the Year 2009. The Barcelona striker blew other nominees away. His 1,073 votes were 700 more than the second-placed Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, while another Spanish-based player, Messi's Barcelona teammate, Xavi, finished third with 106 nominations.

It was the first time an Argentine has won the Fifa award since its inauguration in 1991. Germany's Lothar Matthaus was the first recipient and since then it has been dominated by Brazilians with three wins for Ronaldo, two for Ronaldinho and one apiece for Kaka Romario and Rivaldo. The only time an African won was in 1995 when Liberian George Opong Weah won it beating a formidable field featuring Paulo Maldini (Italy)and Jurgen Klinsman(Germany).

In other awards announced on Tuesday also , Cristiano Ronaldo won the inaugural Goal of the Year award for the 40-yard belter he scored for Manchester United against Porto in last season's Champions League, and Marta of Brazil picked up the Women's Player of the Year award. 

NO AFRICAN IN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2009.

Thursday, 10 December 2009

FIFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR ....My Money is on MESSI

Messi ,Barca , Argentina.Is he the Next WFOTY?

The contenders for this year’s FIFA World Player of the Year and FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year awards, which will be presented at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, FIFA’s home city, on 21 December 2009, were announced on Monday. In alphabetical order, the male nominees are Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Xavi (Spain), while Cristiane (Brazil), Inka Grings (Germany), Marta (Brazil), Birgit Prinz (Germany) and Kelly Smith (England) will contest the women’s award.



These nominees were confirmed after a poll in which the coaches and captains of men’s and women’s national teams from around the world voted for candidates from a list drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and the FIFA Committee for Women’s Football
The FIFA World Player Gala 2009 will have a number of exciting new features, including two new awards:
• The FIFA/FIFPro World XI, which will honour the best 11 players of the year as chosen by over 50,000 professional football players from all over the world.

Africa's legion of foreign and home-based players must step up their games to make a better showing next year. Kanu,Drogba, Adebayor , Martins and others we consider as worthy nominees must chase Geoge Weah's and Samuel Etos' legacy and do the motherland proud once more. For starters the nations cup in an Angola promise an explosion of sort. REMEMBER TO FOLLOW RadioAfrica1 our sports channel and our international channel to get afresh take to the game from our team of seasoned and tested reporters a and analysts.

George Weah of Liberia (1995)  is the only African to win the coveted award.

• The FIFA Puskás Award, created in honour and in memory of Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s, will be presented to the player – man or woman – who has scored the prettiest goal of the year contenders for this year’s FIFA World Player of the Year and FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year awards, which will be presented at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, FIFA’s home city, on 21 December 2009, were announced on Monday. In alphabetical order, the male nominees are Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Xavi (Spain), while Cristiane (Brazil), Inka Grings (Germany), Marta (Brazil), Birgit Prinz (Germany) and Kelly Smith (England) will contest the women’s award.