Sports
        

Photos

Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony

Updated: 2011-01-11 09:49

(Agencies)

Twitter Facebook Myspace Yahoo! Linkedin Mixx
Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony

Lionel Messi of Argentina, FIFA World Player of the Year holds his FIFA Ballon d'Or 2010 trophy during the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2010 soccer awards ceremony in Zurich, Jan 10, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

ZURICH - Argentina's Lionel Messi won the World Player of the Year for the second time in a row on Monday and Jose Mourinho walked off with the coach's award, leaving Spain's World Cup winners disappointed.

Related readings:
Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony Messi, Ronaldo light up European goal show
Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony Little Messi shoulders big weight for his club
Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony Golden awards for top FIFA World Cup Trio
Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony Messi brace sends nervy Barcelona top

Messi surprisingly held off Barcelona team mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi, second and third respectively, to win the newly-created FIFA Ballon D'Or, a fusion of the previously separate annual awards handed out by FIFA and France Football magazine.

Mourinho, now with Real Madrid, won the inaugural Coach of the Year award after leading Inter Milan to a Champions League, Serie A and Italian Cup treble.

The honour went to the self-styled Special One, who described himself afterwards as "proudly Portuguese", at the expense of Spain's World Cup-winning coach Vicente del Bosque, second, and Barcelona's Pep Guardiola, third.

"The most important trophies for me are the collective ones, not the individual ones but this is a historic trophy for me and Portuguese football," Mourinho told reporters after edging Del Bosque with 35.92 percent of the votes against 33.08.

Messi, Mourinho spoil Spanish party at FIFA award ceremony

Lionel Messi of Argentina, FIFA World Player of the Year makes a speech as he stands next to his FIFA Ballon d'Or 2010 trophy during the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2010 soccer awards ceremony in Zurich, Jan 10, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

   Previous Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page  

Specials

President Hu visits the US

President Hu Jintao is on a state visit to the US from Jan 18 to 21.

Ancient life

The discovery of the fossile of a female pterosaur nicknamed as Mrs T and her un-laid egg are shedding new light on ancient mysteries.

Economic Figures

China's GDP growth jumped 10.3 percent year-on-year in 2010, boosted by a faster-than-expected 9.8 percent expansion in the fourth quarter.

2011 postgraduate entrance exam
Pet businesses
Critics call for fraud case to be reopened