Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2008 Ballon D’Or award by an overwhelming margin. Ronaldo comfortably beat his main rivals Messi and is now the fourth Manchester United player (after Law, Charlton and Best) and the first England-based player since Michael Owen to win the France Football award.
The Ballon D’Or will go nicely with his UEFA MVP and FIFPro World Player of the Year awards, and now all eyes are on the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year award, one that he is again expected to win.
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2008 Ballon d’Or Top Ten:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Manchester United) – 446 points
2. Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona) – 281 pts
3. Fernando Torres (Spain/Liverpool) – 179 pts
4. Iker Casillas (Spain/Real Madrid) – 133 pts
5. Xavi Hernandez (Spain/Barcelona) – 97 pts
6. Andrei Arshavin (Russia/Zenit St. Petersburg) – 64 pts
7. David Villa (Spain/Valencia) – 55 pts
8. Kaka (Brazil/AC Milan) – 31 pts
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Inter) – 30 pts
10. Steven Gerrard (England/Liverpool) – 28 pts
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Ballon D’Or 2008 Nominees
The Ballon D’Or shortlist for 2008 comprises of 30 footballers who have excelled in their performances for club and country over the previous season.
The award is presented by France Football magazine and the winner is selected on December 2 when 96 journalists from around the world cast their vote in a poll to determine who was the best performer in the 2007/2008 season.
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Togo
Sergio Agüero (Atletico Madrid), Argentina
Andrei Arshavin (Zenit St. Petersburg), Russia
Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Germany
Karim Benzema (Lyon), France
Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Italy
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Portugal
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Ivory Coast
Samuel Eto’o (FC Barcelona), Cameroon
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Spain
Fernando Torres (Liverpool FC), Spain
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC), England
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Sweden
Kaka (AC Milan), Brazil
Frank Lampard (Chelsea), England
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona), Argentina
Pepe (Real Madrid), Portugal
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), France
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), England
Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Spain
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Spain
Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), Italy
Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Netherlands
Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg SV/Real Madrid), Netherlands
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Netherlands
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Serbia
David Villa (Valencia CF), Spain
Xavi (FC Barcelona), Spain
Youri Zhirkov (CSKA Moscow), Russia
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are expected to slug it out for the eventual honour – everyone has their favourites so tell us about them below and for fun, pick a winner from the list above if Ronaldo and Messi were not in contention.
Excellent comparison of the performances of Ronaldo, Messi and Torres in the last year.
Paul Doyle puts ‘Player of the Year’ awards in their right place.
While we’re at it, vote for your 2008 Footballer of the Year.
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