Ronaldinho scoops European award

[fsec]

Ronaldinho has been voted as European player of the year. Lampard of Chelsea was second and Liverpool's Steven gerard was third.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4475808.stm

Barcelona and Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho was named 2005 European Footballer of the Year on Monday.
The 25-year-old was favourite to claim the Ballon D'Or, having already won the 2004 Fifa World Player of the Year and the inaugural FIFpro award.

The Ballon D'Or is widely accepted to be the highest accolade available to a player plying his trade in Europe.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard came second, while Liverpool's Steven Gerrard finished third.

Arsenal striker Thierry Henry was fourth in the voting, followed by AC Milan and Ukraine forward Andriy Shevchenko, who won last year

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Previous winners of the award

1956 - Stanley Matthews
1957 - Alfredo Di Stefano
1958 - Raymond Kopa
1959 - Alfredo Di Stefano
1960 - Luis Suarez
1961 - Omar Sivori
1962 - Josef Masopust
1963 - Lev Yachine
1964 - Denis Law
1965 - Eusebio
1966 - Bobby Charlton
1967 - Florian Albert
1968 - George Best
1969 - Gianni Rivera
1970 - Gerd Muller
1971 - Johan Cruyff
1972 - Franz Beckenbauer
1973 - Johan Cruyff
1974 - Johan Cruyff
1975 - Oleg Blokhin
1976 - Franz Beckenbauer
1977 - Alan Simonsen
1978 - Kevin Keegan
1979 - Kevin Keegan
1980 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
1981 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
1982 - Paolo Rossi
1983 - Michel Platini
1984 - Michel Platini
1985 - Michel Platini
1986 - Igor Belanov
1987 - Ruud Gullit
1988 - Marco Van Basten
1989 - Marco Van Basten
1990 - Lothar Matthaus
1991 - Jean-Pierre Papin
1992 - Marco Van Basten
1993 - Roberto Baggio
1994 - Hristo Stoichkov
1995 - George Weah
1996 - Matthias Sammer
1997 - Ronaldo
1998 - Zinedine Zidane
1999 - Rivaldo
2000 - Luis Figo
2001 - Michael Owen
2002 - Ronaldo
2003 - Pavel Nedved
2004 - Andrei Shevchenko
2005 - Ronaldinho

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4475808.stm

[Darvish11]

Shocking.

[Darvish11]

2007-Ali Karimi

[Rooz]

makes sense. he should be on course for the world poy too i shud think

[VivaItalia]

Ballon D'Or
The Ballon D'Or in more detail...

Rank - Player (Club) - Points

1 Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 225 pts
2 Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 148
3 Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 142
4 Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 41
5 Andrei Shevchenko (AC Milan) 33
6 Paolo Maldini (AC Milan) 23
7 Adriano (Inter Milan) 22
8 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus) 21
9 Kaka (AC Milan) 19
=10 Samuel Eto’o (Barcelona) 18
=10 John Terry (Chelsea) 18
12 Juninho (Lyon) 15
13 Claude Makelele (Chelsea) 8
=14 Michael Ballack (Bayern) 7
=14 Petr Cech (Chelsea) 7
=14 Didier Drogba (Chelsea) 7
=14 J. R. Riquelme (Villarreal) 7
18 Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) 5
19 Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) 4
=20 Jamie Carragher (Liverpool) 3
=20 Cristiano Ronaldo (Man. Utd) 3
22 Michael Essien (Chelsea) 2
=23 Luis Garcia (Liverpool) 1
=23 Pavel Nedved (Juventus) 1


Breakdown By Country

4 Brazil
4 England
3 France
2 Czech Republic
2 Italy
1 Argentina
1 Cameroon
1 Germany
1 Ghana
1 Ivory Coast
1 Portugal
1 Spain
1 Sweden
1 Ukraine


Breakdown By Club

6 Chelsea
3 AC Milan
3 Juventus
2 Liverpool
2 Barcelona
1 Arsenal
1 Bayern Munich
1 Inter Milan
1 Lyon
1 Manchester United
1 Real Madrid
1 Villarreal

[VivaItalia]

Shevchenko: Maldini Could Have Won The Golden Ball
11/29/2005 11:18:00 AM
According to the Ukrainian forward, the Rossoneri’s captain would have won the prestigious award if Milan had won the Champions League final.
Despite acknowledging Ronaldinho’s win, Andriy Shevchenko also believes that the Golden Ball could have gone to Paolo Maldini if his side had not crumbled in the second half of the Champions League final.

"I think that the Barcelona champion absolutely deserves this recognition. However, I also think that the defeat against Liverpool penalized the Milan players. If in May at Istanbul we had won, the favourite would have been our captain, Paolo Maldini.”

[faraz]

This guy is simply unstoppable. How someone CAN'T like him, I don't know.

[Haf3z]

This guy is simply unstoppable. How someone CAN'T like him, I don't know.

The Madrid fans eventually honored him with standing ovations during the Madrid - Barca game. That is very rear in world football, and so beautiful!

[Malkay]

Amazing footballer...

http://media.spikedhumor.com/7879/ronaldinho.wmv

[VivaItalia]

He is the only Brazilian I just love watching him.

I wish Milan would buy him next year. but I doubt it!

[Haf3z]

He is the only Brazilian I just love watching him.

I wish Milan would buy him next year. but I doubt it!

Even though I'm an Inter fan, what about Kaka and Dida?

[VivaItalia]

Even though I'm an Inter fan, what about Kaka and Dida?

Kaka has Begir-Nagir, He is still a kid. not very much dependable.
Dida is good, but not as good as Buffon. If I had to choose, I would take Buffon.

BUT, Ronaldinho is khoda! No one is even close to him.

[soniq]

He is like a soccer god

[police in helicopter]

I can't see who else could have won it instead of him. This guy is in my opinion one of the five best players ever.