The sense of anticipation is growing, with the first ever winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or set to be unveiled in Zurich on Monday evening. Brought about by the fusion of two prestigious titles in the FIFA World Player of the Yشear award and France Football magazine’s Ballon d’Or, the honour will crown a gala evening celebrating the game over the past year. As ever, FIFA.com is on hand to bring you all the latest news and interviews.
Marta was named FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year for the fifth time. Finally,Lionel Messi was named the first-ever winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or, beating Barcelona team-mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi to the prize.
The event began at 14.00 CET with a press conference involving nominees for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football awards. Fatmire Bajramaj, Marta, Birgit Prinz, Pia Sundhage and Silvia Neid shared their thoughts on being shortlisted for their respective prizes and reflected on the year gone by. You can read what was said by clicking on the 'Female contenders reflect on past year' link on the right hand side.
Next up, the FIFA Interactive World Player of the Year was introduced, followed by the men’s press conference for the FIFA Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football awards. We will have a report on what they had to say on FIFA.com soon.
All concerned then took advantage of a break in proceedings to change into evening dress for the Gala itself!
The main event
Then, between 16.30 and 18.00, Zurich’s lucky inhabitants and got a glimpse of the stars on show on the red carpet in front of the city’s Kongresshaus. It was a unique opportunity for a close-up look at the players, coaches, former icons and previous award winners present, and once again FIFA.com was on hand to conduct interviews and will be bringing you a taste of the building atmosphere shortly.
With the entrées out of the way, at 19.00 the stage is set for the main course – the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala, streamed live on FIFA.com. In addition to the titles mentioned above, a whole host of further honours are being bestowed, not least the FIFA Presidential Award and FIFA Fair Play Award, while the FIFA FIFPro World XI will reveal the year’s 11 best players as voted by their peers and the FIFA Puskas Prize will reward the scorer of the finest goal of 2010 according to FIFA.com users.
After the show, which is scheduled to end at 20.00, the players and coaches will speak with the press, and unsurprisingly FIFA.com will be there yet again to record their reactions. As usual, you will be able to read the evening’s winners give their first impressions almost as soon as they have spoken their minds.
Once the action-packed day has ended, it will then be time for the protagonists to catch their flights home and for the decor to be packed away at the Zurich Kongresshaus. On FIFA.com, meanwhile, it will be the moment for all of you to tell the world your thoughts on the inaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala.
he FIFA Ballon d’Or was awarded for the first time this evening, with Lionel Messi and Marta being crowned king and queen of the football world.
Between 16.30 and 18.00, Zurich’s lucky inhabitants got a glimpse of the stars on show on the red carpet in front of the city’s Kongresshaus. It was a unique opportunity for a close-up look at the players, coaches, former icons and previous award winners present.
Former Netherlands striker Marco Van Basten announced the FIFA/FIFPro World XI for 2010. The players in question were Iker Casillas, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Maicon, Lucio, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Wesley Sneijder, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa, all of whom received a lengthy and deserved round of applause from the gallery.
This year’s FIFA Fair Play award went to Haiti’s U-17 women’s national team, who carried on bravely despite the worst kind of suffering, loss and pain following the devastating earthquake of January 2010.
Silvia Neid has been named FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football, while Jose Mourinho was awarded FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football.
One of South Africa’s struggle stalwarts who fought for the emancipation of South Africans during the era of apartheid, Archbishop Desmond Tutu was honoured with the prestigious FIFA Presidential Award.
After the audience had been treated to a video showing the ten magnificent strikes in the running for the accolade, a clearly elated Hamit Altintop won the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal of 2010.
Marta was named FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year for the fifth time. Finally, Lionel Messi was named the first-ever winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or, beating Barcelona team-mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi to the prize.
As the action-packed day ended, it was time for the protagonists to catch their flights home and for the decor to be packed away at the Zurich Kongresshaus. On FIFA.com, meanwhile, it is time for all of you to tell the world your thoughts on the inaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala.
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