THE BIGGEST NAMES in world football gathered at Kongresshaus in Zurich for the 2014 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony today.
We brought you all the winners and, as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Email ben@thescore.ie, tweet @football_.ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.
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- Stephanie Roche comes second in the Puskas Award behind winner James Rodriguez. Robin van Persie is third.
- Cristiano Ronaldo wins his second consecutive Ballon d’or with Lionel Messi finishing runner-up ahead of Manuel Neuer.
Good afternoon, folks. While many of you will be finishing up an average mid-January Monday in work, Ireland strike Stephanie Roche is right now rubbing shoulders with the world’s best players.
Having remarkably made the final three of this year’s Puskas Award for her spectacular finish for Pemaount United back in October 2013 (you’ve definitely seen it by now), the 26-year-old is attending the glamorous event in Zurich.
Roche is up against Manchester United and Dutch striker Robin van Persie and James Rodriguez, of Real Madrid and Colombia, and a winner will be announced in the coming hours.
She has already met one of the other finalists today, as well as legendary Italian Alessandro Del Piero. Incidentally, Van Persie won’t be in attendance as he injured himself during yesterday’s defeat to Southampton.
If the Dutchman does win, his compatriot Ruud Gullit will pick up the award on his behalf.
There is also the small matter of the Fifa Ballon d’Or prize, which Ronaldo will be aiming to win for the second consecutive year. He is up against old rival Lionel Messi, a former winner, and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Here’s the trio earlier today:
Steph and her boyfriend Dean Zambra have arrived in the past few minutes:
You can watch the event live on Fifa’s YouTube channel, on the RTE Player from 5.30pm or on Sky Sports.
Another year, another dodgy suit from Lionel Messi.
Right, tell us once and for all… which of the three goals is the best?
Poll Results:
You can still vote for your favourite here but only for the next few minutes. So it’s your very, VERY last chance.
While Roche has travelled with her father, brother, boyfriend, PR manager/boyfriend’s sister and a small number of the Irish media, the rest of the family will be watching down the local — Brady’s of Shankill.
Here we go then. Your host for tonight is Sky Sports presenter Katie Abdo.
Abdo explains that there is just under an hour to vote for your favourite goal, before showing all ten that made the long list. The winner is due to be announced at 6.30pm.
Del Piero is out on stage to help announce the FIFPro Team of the Year. No surprises to hear it’s Manuel Neuer in goal, with Sergio Ramos, Philipp Lahm, David Luiz and Thiago Silva making up the back four. Yes, David Luiz.
The midfield trio is Angel Di Maria, Andres Iniesta and Toni Kroos, while Arjen Robben, Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo make up a frightening attack.
Jamie Carragher isn’t alone in expressing his surprise at one particular inclusion:
Next, Fifa president Sepp Blatter names 90-year-old Hiroshi Kagawa, a former Japanese international turned journalist, as the winner of this year’s Presidential Award.
In French, Blatter remembers the tragic events of the past week by adding: “Tonight, we are all Charlie”.
Vfl Wolfsburg’s Ralf Kellermann wins Women’s Coach of the Year. He uses his acceptance speech to pay tribute to Junior Malanda, the 20-year-old Wolfsburg player who died in a car crash this week.
And Germany’s Joachim Löw claims Men’s Coach of the Year after their World Cup victory in Brazil last summer.
The voting has officially CLOSED for the Puskas Award. We’re about five minutes away from finding out the winner. C’mon Steph!
Just when we think we are getting the Puskas Award winner announced…. the host introduces ‘a singer-songwriter from Switzerland’.
My lord, talk about filler!
The singer is finished now and we are seeing a montage previewing next year’s women’s World Cup.
Former Real Madrid star Christian Karembeu is on now to discuss the fight against Ebola.
That’s tough on Stephanie Roche but even to make the final three is an amazing achievement.
And just like that, the ceremony moves on. Manuel Neuer is now being interviewed on stage. Can we not have a few minutes to grieve??
Apparently Steph Roche was 9% short of winning.
Apparently 1.1 million people voted for Steph Roche, which shows how much support there was for the goal.
Phew, the big away games aren’t until 2013…..hopefully finances will have recovered from Pokraine by then.
Could be in a really strong qualifying position by then too. Win home, draw away.
it really is a very very difficult group
Would have been a lot easier if the draw took place in December as has always been the norm. They made the draw three months early when we were third seeds. We are second seeds now.
This is one of the hardest qualifying groups that we have had in a long time. Its not going to be easy to get out of that.
We play with our heart and soul….thats what makes us stand up from the rest….is not easy but we will get there…
Will keane,duff,dunne and given retire after euro12 ?, if so i cant see us qualifying…hope im wrong though.
Cork – Amsterdam – Almaty – Astana. €1500 for the flight to kazakhstan, not many takers at that price id say.
With Aer Lingus starting a Cork-Frankfurt route it would only require Cork-Frankfurt-Astana, no?
The agents will charter direct flights…..often cheaper for such destinations.
Trappatoni will try his best to convince the old guard to hang around, to the detriment of the future and current set of young players vying to make the squad. Players like Coleman, McCarthy, Brady, Clifford, Meyler, Rooney will see little to no international action while Trap is in charge. Also worthy players such as Hoolahan, Pilkington, Reid(Steven), Kenny, Garvan, Stokes, Best will not receive any recognition for their efforts.
You need a good mixture of youth and experience. trap has brought a lot of new faces into the fold over the past four years. Happy with where the squad is going into the Euros.
Has a ground been set for the Germany away match?
We are spoiled for quality strikers ATM so we will manage the transition minus Keane. Duff is starting to slow & prone to injury with Seamus Coleman a promising replacement. I don’t see a like for like replacement for Dunne yet, same for Given. I hope all four stay involved for WC qualifiers but it’s time now to start blooding their replacements.
by 2013 the youth will be in the team. no more Keane Duff etc. time for Coleman Clark and the likes to step up to the mark. second place looks likely. but with us you never know. it will be slap bang in middle of a transitional period too.