Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the 2014 Ballon d’Or winner, capping the second straight year of him being the best player in the world.
According to ESPN FC website, the Real Madrid and Portugal forward was awarded FIFA’s top individual honour over Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, on Monday night, January 12.
Ronaldo, 29, took home the award for the third time in his career, after also winning it in 2008. He and Messi have been the only players to receive the award since then, with the Argentine earning the honor for four straight years from 2009 to 2012.
The Portuguese earned 37.66 percent of the votes, while Messi edged Neuer, 15.76 to 15.72 percent respectively, for runner-up.
“I would like to thank all of those who voted for me,” Ronaldo said as he accepted the award. “It has been an incredible year. I would like to continue the work that I have done so far. I want to try to improve, to become better as each day goes by. I never thought that I would bring this trophy back home on three occasions. I want to become one of the greatest players of all time. Of course, this requires a lot of effort and I hope to get there,” he said.
Ronaldo scored 61 goals last year for club and country and set a record by scoring 17 times in last season’s Champions League, guiding Madrid to their 10th title, the long-awaited La Decima. He scored twice in the semifinals against Bayern Munich and the crowning goal in the final against Atletico Madrid.
This season, he has scored a remarkable 26 goals in 16 games in La Liga and an additional five goals in six Champions League games.
The Ballon d’Or was presented solely by France Football until 2009, and the publication joined with FIFA’s World Player of the Year Award from the 2010 edition.
