Cristiano Ronaldo wins Ballon D’Or

Manchester United Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2008 Ballon D’Or award, according to an announcement made by French magazine France Football at 0200 GMT. Ronaldo picked up a massive 446 votes out of a possible 480, and was the only player on the lists of all the 96 journalists. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi came second with 267 votes, while Liverpool striker Fernando Torres was third with 165 votes. Ronaldo is the fourth Manchester United player to win the award, after Dennis Law, Sir Bobby Charlton and George Best. He is only the third Portuguese player to bag the coveted award after Eusebio in 1965 and Luis Figo in 2000.

Ronaldo was instrumental in Manchester United winning the double in the 2007-08 season
Ronaldo was instrumental in Manchester United winning the double in the 2007-08 season

Read more

England 14th in latest FIFA Rankings

In FIFA’s latest rankings, England have climbed up one place from fifteenth to fourteenth thanks to their wins over Croatia and Andorra. Brazil have moved up two places to fourth, while the Netherlands and Croatia have fallen down one place to fifth and sixth respectively.

The top three remain unchanged- Spain, Italy and Germany. However Spain have managed to extend their lead over the Italians- they have 1643 points to Italy’s 1365.

Scotland lost 156 points as they fell to 26th, a drop of 10 places.

Read more