The Hindu : Sport : Cristiano Ronaldo tops voting list for `Best Young Player' award

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 07, 2006

Sport

Sport

Cristiano Ronaldo tops voting list for `Best Young Player' award

Zidane among those shortlisted for the coveted `Golden Ball' prize

Franz Beckenbauer displays the Golden Ball trophy. — Photo: AP

BERLIN : Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi are among the six candidates for `Best Young Player' at the World Cup.

The other finalists are Tranquillo Barnetta of Switzerland, Cesc Fabregas of Spain, Lukas Podolski of Germany and Luis Valencia of Ecuador.

Messi, Ronaldo and Valencia made the shortlist by finishing in the top three of fan voting via www.fifaworldcup.com while Barnetta, Fabregas and Podolski were nominated by FIFA's Technical Study Group. The original field consisted of 40 players.

Booing by the Munich crowd in the semifinal and the controversy over the Wayne Rooney red card episode could not prevent Cristiano Ronaldo from receiving the highest number of votes (210290; 27 per cent) ahead of Valencia (195377; 25 per cent) and Messi (114978; 15 per cent). In the fans voting, Podolski was fourth, Fabregas eighth and Barnetta 14th.

The award, sponsored by Gillette, goes to ``the player born on or after January 1, 1985, who makes the biggest impression at the FIFA World Cup... criteria for the award include style, charisma, fair play and appetite for the game, as well as pure technical skill.''

The 14 members of the Technical Study Group will decide the winner, who will be announced by German great Lothar Matthaeus on Friday.

Ten nominees

Meanwhile, Zinedine Zidane, has been short-listed for the prestigious `Golden Ball' award.

The prize is awarded to the most valuable player in the 32-team tournament.

Of the 10 nominees, four are Italian and three French.

The nominations are: Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Maniche (Portugal), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Thierry Henry (France), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Patrick Vieira (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany) and Zinedine Zidane (France). However, the winner will not be announced until the day after the final.

In a break with tradition, voting by journalists covering the World Cup will remain open until midnight on the night of the final, with the winner announced on Monday. In 2002, voting closed at halftime in the final, with the winner announced after the match. In previous tournaments, voting closed after the third-place game.

German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn won the Golden Ball in 2002.

Other previous winners include Brazilians Ronaldo (1998) and Romario ('94), Italians Salvatore Schillaci ('90) and Paolo Rossi ('82) and Argentina's Diego Maradona in 1986. — Agencies

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