Lionel Messi wins Ballon d'Or for fifth time
Source: Buenos Aires Herald
Lionel Messi reclaimed the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the world player of the year on Monday, after watching his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo walk off with the prize for the previous two years. The Argentine-born Barcelona forward finished ahead of Ronaldo and Brazil forward Neymar as he scooped the award for the fifth time overall, having previously won it four years in a row from 2009 to 2012.
Messi helped Barcelona win a Spanish league, cup and Champions League treble plus the Club World Cup and also led Argentina to the Copa America final, where they lost to Argentina. "It’s incredible, much more than anything I dreamed of as a kid,” said Messi as he received the award. "I want to thank my team mates, without them none of this would have been possible.”
Barcelona's Luis Enrique was voted coach of the year. United States World Cup winner Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the final against Japan, was named women's player of the year. Ronaldo ended last season trophyless with Real Madrid although he helped Portugal qualify for Euro 2016.
The ceremony, at the Zürich Kongresshaus Theatre, was held against the backdrop of FIFA going through the worst corruption crisis since it was founded in 1904.
Outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter, normally a central figure at the ceremony, was not involved after being banned for eight years by the Ethics Committee in December. Blatter was replaced by acting FIFA President Issa Hayatou who played a low-key role, reading a brief speech before the start of the ceremony.
Read more: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/206524/messi-wins-ballon-dor-for-fifth-time
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FIFA Has Many Problems, But It Could At Least Fix Its Sexism
CREDIT: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
The U.S. Women's National Team celebrates its World Cup victory.
It’s been quite a year for FIFA. Bribes, embezzlement, raids, arrests, intransigent leaders refusing to admit wrongdoing — even the Women’s World Cup and its record-breaking audiences were marred by the fact that FIFA forced the women to play on turf, something men’s teams are never made to do. As all of its faults are laid bare and the reform process begins, the movement to bring more women into global soccer’s overwhelmingly male governing body senses its opening.
“I really feel it’s now or never,” Julie Foudy, two-time World Cup champion and 17-year veteran of the U.S. Women’s National Team, told ThinkProgress. “We have this incredible opportunity to do something here.”
With FIFA’s reform committee meeting Friday in Zurich, more than 100 athletes — from Greg Louganis to Alex Morgan — along with numerous organizations, coaches, and managers have signed on to a letter calling on FIFA to bring more women into its ranks. Specifically, they’re asking for the percentage of women on the Executive Committee to be immediately increased to 30 percent and for all stakeholders to be required to address the imbalance in funding between men’s and women’s teams.
“Sports can inspire entire nations and it is time for our governing organizations to reflect the important role women must play in charting a course toward greater transparency and opportunity for all,” USWNT superstar Abby Wambach told ThinkProgress in a statement, describing the #WomenInFIFA movement as a “call to action.” That call is rooted in a proposal drafted by Moya Dodd, one of only three women on FIFA’s Executive Committee (the first woman wasn’t formally voted onto the committee until 2013). When it comes to identifying the problem and what needs to change within FIFA, Dodd doesn’t hold back, calling out “what is perhaps the most profound, long-standing, and systemic injustice in sport.”
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http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2015/11/20/3723884/fifa-has-a-sexism-problem/
He's a wonderful player.
