Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Best Male Player Award over his great rival Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann for a stellar 2015-16 season, at a glittering ceremony.

Ronaldo also won the Ballon d’Or, given by France Football magazine, in December, with both honours recognition for success in the Champions League with Real and Euro 2016 with Portugal.

“I will never forget 2016,” Ronaldo said, as quoted by the BBC on Monday.

He thanked his team-mates, family and his whole staff. Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri won FIFA Best Men’s Coach award. Argentine legend Diego Maradona handed the award to Ranieri.

“I’m crazy now,” said the Leicester coach, as quoted by the BBC.

“Thank you so much for voting me. I’m 65 now, I start now as a manger!”

Ex-Germany coach Silvia Neid won the FIFA Best Women’s Coach award.

Mohd Faiz Subri, forward of club Penang in the 2016 Malaysia Super League won the Fifa Puskas Award for the best goal.

Carli Lloyd, of Houston Dash and the US, a World Cup winner and two-time Olympic winner, was honoured with the Fifa Best Female Player Award.

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Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was named here as the winner of the 2016 Ballon d’Or for the fourth time, second only to five-time recipient Lionel Messi.

The Portuguese international’s first golden ball came in 2008, before Manchester United sold him to the Blancos for $132 million, EFE news reported.

Ronaldo scored 51 goals in 54 games this year while leading Real Madrid to their record 11th Champions League trophy and Portugal to its first European Championship.

The 31-year-old striker was not on hand for the ceremony in Paris, as Real Madrid are in Japan this week for the semifinals of the Club World Cup.

“This has been the best year of my career from both a team and individual level,” Ronaldo said in an interview recorded earlier at the Santiago Bernabeu. “To win the title for Portugal was what was left to achieve on my resume and it was one of the most important moments.”

“But to win Champions League as well with Real Madrid was huge,” he said, surrounded by the 11 trophies the team has won in Europe’s elite club competition.

“This is a dream come true and it is the fourth time. I feel very proud. This win is for my teammates in both the club and the national team. It is incredible to earn this trophy again,” Ronaldo said.

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Presented by the magazine France Football, the Ballon d’Or has been awarded every year since 1956.

Messi, whose Barça squad won La Liga and the Copa del Rey came second in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, followed by Antoine Griezmann of Champions League finalist Atletico Madrid.

IANS

World football’s governing body on Friday named perennial rivals Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann as the final three nominees for The Best Mens Player Award.

FIFA pruned a list of 23 names down to the elite trio after voting by captains and coaches of national teams, select members of the media and fans on fifa.com.

The winner will be crowned on January 9.

Ronaldo had an outstanding year in continental competitions, securing his third Champions League title, his second for Real Madrid, finishing as the top scorer with 16 goals on the way to the final, in which the Portuguese scored the winning penalty in the shootout against Atletico Madrid.

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Six weeks later, he captained his country to their first major trophy, scoring three goals to help his side to victory.

Atletico Madrid’s Griezmann announced himself as one of the world’s outstanding players this year thanks, in part, to his performances on home soil at 2016 Euro.

The forward was the top scorer in the tournament as he helped his country reach the final, only to be defeated by Ronaldo’s Portugal.

The Frenchman also ended the 2015-16 season as his club side’s top goalscorer, helping Atletico to third in La Liga, and to a tight final defeat to Ronald”s Real in the Champions League.

Argentina and FC Barcelona’s talisman Messi had yet another phenomenal year, guiding his side to a league and cup double, scoring 26 goals in an incredibly tight La Liga title race, and captaining his country to the final of the Copa America Centenario. Argentina lost to Chile in the final.

IANS

Superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi along with English Premier League champions Leicester City’s trio – Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’golo Kante — lead the 23-man shortlist for global football governing body FIFA’s men’s player of the year award.

The contenders for the coveted award, titled The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016 award, also include Ronaldo’s Spanish club Real Madrid team-mates Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric and arch-rivals FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta.

Atletico Madrid and France forward Antoine Griezmann, a Champions League and 2016 Euro finalist, is a contender, along with his country mate Dimitri Payet, according to the list released by FIFA on Friday.

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English club Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were also named.

Manchester United pair Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are in the select list alongwith Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero.

Germany and Bayern Munich goalkeepers Manuel Neuer and Italy and Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon are also on the list.

The voting for the award closes on November 22.

The 23-man list is due to be reduced to three candidates on December 2. The ceremony to name the best player will be held on January 9 next year.

Portugal captain Ronaldo is the strongest contender to win due to his Champions League and 2016 Euro successes this year

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the annual award since 2008. Messi has won it five times and Ronaldo thrice.

IANS

Lionel Messi scores his 54th international goal (equals highest by an Argentine), Gonzalo Higuain scores a brace as Argentina thumped past past Venezuela 4-1 to book their semifinal place against the USA.

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