By ‘Dotun Akintomide
Real Madrid forward, Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or as the best player on earth for a record fifth time.
Ronaldo was selected for the award ahead of rivals, Lionel Messi and Neymar.
This makes it, the second successive year Ronaldo will be named Best FIFA Men’s Player ahead of Lionel Messi
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo was presented with the 2017 award by Diego Maradona and former Brazil striker Ronaldo at the London ceremony after beating off competition from Messi and the world’s most expensive player, Neymar.
While addressing the crowd after taking to the stage to pick his award, a delighted Ronaldo said “Thank you a lot, to the guys who voted for me. Real supporters, my team-mates, my coach, my president, I have to thank them too.
“We are in England for the first time and I win consecutive awards. This is a great moment for me. I know I have fans all over the world so thanks a lot for the support.
“It’s great to be around great players, and I’m so happy guys!”
Meanwhile, Zinedine Zidane made it a double swoop for Real Madrid after beating off Chelsea’s title-winning manager Antonio Conte and Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri to be named Best FIFA Men’s Coach.
Zidane became the first coach to win back-to-back Champions League titles and led Real Madrid to their first La Liga title in five years.
Here are FIFA Award winners in full…
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Women’s Player: Lieke Martens
Puskas Award: Olivier Giroud
Best Men’s Coach: Zinedine Zidane
Best Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman
Best Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
Best Fans: Celtic
Fair Play: Francis Kone
