Ronaldo, Messi or Ribery: Who will be crowned the world’s best?

Sport360 staff 12:36 13/01/2014
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  • Memorable Messi: The Barcelona star stood out in his rather loud suit at the 2012 awards.

    Cristiano Ronaldo must have perfected that appreciative nod and hollow smile following a number of years of just missing out on being named the FIFA Ballon d’Or winner – but he is favourite to collect the trophy this time around.

    The Real Madrid man has finished runner-up three times in the past four years since winning both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2008, before the two trophies became one.

    Four years in a row he has watched Barcelona’s Lionel Messi anointed the world’s best, but the 2013 award is expected to be much closer with Ronaldo and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery tipped as frontrunners ahead of Messi after an injury interrupted finish to the year for the Argentine.

    The ceremony, which will also see a best women’s player and a male and female coach of the year crowned, starts tonight at 21:30 UAE time and can be seen live on FIFA’s YouTube channel.

    The favourites: 

    Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid 

    Ronaldo’s goalscoring feats continue to astound. He became the quickest to reach 200 for Madrid, doing so in a record 197 games, and finished the year with 66 in 56. Sadly for him, there were no major club honours, however he did fire Portugal to the World Cup with all four goals in a 4-2 play-off win over Sweden.

    Lionel Messi – Barcelona 

    Injuries may have disrupted chunks of his 2013, but Messi still topped La Liga’s goalscoring charts as Barca ran away with the title and led the charge as Argentina romped to World Cup qualification. Half-fit when Barca were thumped by Bayern in the Champions League, a tax case also brought unwanted headlines.

    Franck Ribery – Bayern Munich 

    Some 22 goals and 18 assists for club and country in 2013 give Ribery the stats to back up his obvious talent. Bayern had maybe the greatest ever club season and the winger trousered Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League, Super Cup & Club World Cup medals, while also reaching the 2014 World Cup.

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