It’s widely expected that Cristiano Ronaldo will be announced as the winner of his fifth Ballon d’Or trophy on Thursday – rumours even suggest that David Ginola will hand the Portuguese the award, after the duo compare whose hair is best for a few minutes, no doubt. As always with these awards, the timing of […]
Since Franz Beckenbauer won the Ballon d’Or in 1976, a total of three defenders have won the ultimate individual award since: Lothar Matthäus in 1990, Matthias Sammer in 1996 and, most recently, Fabio Cannavaro in 2006. It always feels like goalkeepers and outfield players with a more defensive-minded approach to the game, have to achieve a lot […]
Gianluigi Buffon, alongside Italian counterpart, Andrea Barzagli, sat out Juventus’ recent 3-2 Serie A defeat to Sampdoria due to the pair’s struggles at moving on from Italy’s failure to qualify for next summer’s World Cup in Russia – the Russians will have to put polonium into someones else’s pasta, now. The outcry over the absence of […]
How much do you appreciate Andrea Pirlo? Is it a lot? Is it the most? Do you literally appreciate his talents more than anyone else on earth? Do you just get him? Someone must be the number one fan, and boy is there a fight on to find out who. One of the greatest players to […]
With the best players in the world, Serie A in the 1990s was bound to reach record-breaking heights. True, English football may have inherited diving and cheating as a consequence. But, there’s no doubting the phenomenon that was Serie A in the 90s. The 90s started off in true Italian fashion with Italia ’90. As […]
Since the existence of the Ballon d’Or award, only four English players have ever been handed football’s most illustrious title. Michael Owen is England’s most recent winner, thanks to his success in 2001, where he matched the achievements of some of the countries best ever players in Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Bobby Charlton and Kevin Keegan. […]
The Ballon d’Or shortlist for 2016 saw Cristiano Ronaldo regain the crown from Lionel Messi, but for fans of the British game, one of the most alarming takings from the award was the lack of British presence. Only two British players appeared on the shortlist for football’s most prestigious individual prize. What does this say […]
The year is 2001 and Michael Owen is crowned European Player Of The Year. However, it was another England legend who was on the three-man shortlist for FIFA’s World Player Of The Player: David Beckham. That game against Greece, with the last-minute free-kick was fresh in the memory, as much as the hat-trick Owen scored in […]
During the mid-80s, Michel Platini was widely regarded as one of the best, if not, the best footballer in the world. After being awarded the coveted Ballon d’Or award an incredible three years in a row from 1983 – 1985, Platini’s legacy was set in stone as one of the greats. Only he went and […]
It may not be the indignity suffered by the Brazilian Ronaldo, whose name is now accompanied by the disparaging suffix ‘Fat’, but another giant of football’s history has had their name stolen in recent years. Luis Suárez – maternal family name Miramontes if you want to avoid confusion – was born in A Coruña, Northern […]
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