Messi won his fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or. No one else, has more than three (Cruyff, van Basten, Platini), and only Platini won his three consecutively. Messi garnered 41.6% of the vote, Cristiano Ronaldo came second with 23.7% and Messi's Barcelona teammate Andrés Iniesta came third with 10.9%. That Messi won is no real surprise - the surprise comes when you see what he wore to the acceptance ceremony.
USWNT striker Abby Wambach won the Women's player of the year after she helped lead the USA to the gold medal in London. She beat out Brazilian Marta (herself a five time winner) and USWNT teammate Alex Morgan.
FIFA announced their team of the year, and it consists solely of players in La Liga - 5 Barcelona players, 5 Real Madrid players, and one Atlético Madrid player.
| Iker Casillas (RM) | |||||||||||
| Gerard Piqué (B) | Sergio Ramos (RM) | ||||||||||
| Marcelo (RM) | Dani Alves (B) | ||||||||||
| Andrés Iniesta (B) | Xabi Alonso (RM) | Xavi (B) | |||||||||
| Lionel Messi (B) | Falcao (AM) | Cristiano Ronaldo (RM) | |||||||||
And Miroslav Stoch won the Puskás Award for goal of the year for this strike for Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig.
httpv://youtu.be/6HTQ-VdQoCM
Transfer News
- Demba Ba's transfer to Chelsea was finalized, and he scored 2 in his Chelsea debut. Because why shouldn't he.
- Daniel Sturridge has also finalized his transfer out of Chelsea to Liverpool. I fear Sturridge is teetering on _elm_n territory, as some of the coverage I've encountered takes pains to point out he's still - get this - only 23.
- Joe Cole has left Liverpool on a free transfer to return to West Ham, where he began his professional career. He showed up in fine form as he assisted in both goals in West Ham's 2-2 draw with ManUtd in the FA Cup.
- West Ham have also brought in Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh on loan. It looks like Big Sam has big plans for West Ham.
- And in MLS news, Roger Espinoza has left SKC to join Wigan.