© EuroFootball.com
As expected, during the ceremony held in Paris on Monday, Brazilian national team star Ronaldinho won the "Golden Ball" (Balon d'Or). This prize is awarded to the best football player playing in Europe, and the prestigious awards, in which journalists from the Old Continent vote, were organized for the 50th time by the French magazine "France Football."
The Brazilian, who has been impressively performing in recent years, helped "Barcelona" win the Spanish championship last season and was a leader of the Brazilian national team, which became the winner of the Confederations Cup in the summer.
Playing in attacking midfielder and forward positions, Ronaldinho easily surpassed the second and third place contenders, "Chelsea" and "Liverpool" safeties Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, respectively. The fourth position was taken by the "Arsenal" attacking leader Thierry Henry, while last year's winner, Ukrainian "Milan" forward Andriy Shevchenko, only claimed the fifth place this year.
Ronaldinho became the fifth "Barcelona" player in the entire history of the "Golden Ball" to win this prestigious European award. Previously, the "Golden Ball" had been won by Luis Suarez (1960), Johan Cruyff (1973 and 1974), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), and Rivaldo (1999).
Experts believe that the "Barcelona" star can also win the "FIFA World Player of the Year" award, the results of which will be announced in mid-December. The Brazilian had won this award last year, and this year he was also elected the FIFA FIFPro World XI Player of the Year, gathering all possible personal awards.
Results of the "Golden Ball" voting: 1. Ronaldinho (Brazil/"Barcelona") - 225 points; 2. Frank Lampard (England/"Chelsea") - 148; 3. Steven Gerrard (England/"Liverpool") - 142; 4. Thierry Henry (France/"Arsenal") - 41; 5. Andrei Shevchenko (Ukraine/"Milan") - 33; 6. Paolo Maldini (Italy/"Milan") - 23; 7. Adriano (Brazil/"Inter") - 22; 8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/"Juventus") - 21; 9. Kaka (Brazil/"Milan") - 19; 10-11. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon/"Barcelona"), John Terry (England/"Chelsea") - 18 each; 12. Juninho (Brazil/"Lyon") - 15; 13. Claude Makelele (France/"Chelsea") - 8; 14-17. Michael Ballack (Germany/"Bayern"), Petr Cech (Czech Republic/"Chelsea"), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast/"Chelsea"), Juan Roman Riquelme (Argentina/"Villarreal") - 7 each; 18. Zinedine Zidane (France/"Real") - 5; 19. Gianluigi Buffon (Italy/"Juventus") - 4; 20-21. Jamie Carragher (England/"Liverpool"), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/"Man Utd") - 3 each.
