MOSCOW, January 12 (Sputnik) — Spanish forward Cristiano Ronaldo of FC Real Madrid will receive the FIFA Golden Ball (Ballon d’Or) award for a second year in a row, a source in FIFA told R-sport agency Monday.
The prize will be officially awarded later today at a ceremony in Switzerland’s Zurich, where FIFA is headquartered.
Other candidates nominated for the award were Argentina's forward Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer of FC Bayern Munich. However, they received only 15.76 and 15.72 percent of the votes respectively, while Ronaldo got 37.66 percent.
Ronaldo also won the Golden Ball last year, while Messi received the prize for four years running prior to that.
In 2014, Cristiano Ronaldo won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid.
The FIFA Golden Ball is awarded annually to the best-performing male football player of the previous year. The final choice is based on the votes of coaches, captains of international teams and journalists from around the world.
