FIFA Golden

1. Tipster of the day
On a day of unpredictable action, our Russian and Polish experts fancied both teams to score in Warsaw at 1.80. Let’s give it up for James Appell and Ryan Hubbard!

2. Shock of the day

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo has said that his season with the club has been outstanding, while he will give a 9/10 rating for the achievements of his teammates. Cristiano Ronaldo has been one of the best attacking players in the world for quite a few years.

Accusations from Royston Drenthe of racial abuse directed his way by the world best player, Lionel Messi have been rejected by Barcelona. The Catalan giants have quickly leapt to the defence of their man after Drenthe’s comments this week.

Drenthe is currently on loan at Everton but is currently side lined for his own disciplinary problems. He made the accusations against Messi in an interview with the Dutch magazine, Helden. He claimed he was taunted by Messi in their El Classico meetings in La Liga, with the Argentine calling him “negro” on a number of occasions.

Argentina football legend Diego Maradona has said that his Brazilian counterpart Pele is stupid for comparing Lionel Messi with Brazilian sensation Neymar.

Neymar has been linked with a move to some of the best clubs across the world in the summer transfer window. This has led to Pele saying that Neymar could one day win the FIFA World Player of the Year award.

AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani has said that AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has the ability and the skill to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or award one day.

Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is currently the top scorer in the Italian Serie A alongside Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale. However, he is widely expected to be crowned as the Italian Serie A player of the year for his exploits with AC Milan this season.

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has come out with a statement saying that he is may well capable of winning the Ballon d'Or award.

The FIFA Ballon d'Or award is regarded as one of the crowning awards for a player. Only a handful of players have won it in recent years. Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, who is believed to be the best player in the world right now, has won it three times in the last few years.

Lionel Messi has once again proved that he is the best player in the world by winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the third consecutive year.

Lionel Messi managed to win almost every major trophy with Barcelona last season and also scored a number of goals in the process.

Lionel Messi has once again made the FIFA Ballon D'Or shortlist, and looks set to win the World Player of the Year Award for the third consecutive year.

FIFA have released a 23 man shortlist of footballers that they want the press and head-coaches of each country to vote on. The player with the most votes will be crowned the Player of the Year in December, and will follow in the footsteps of many of the greats - including Platini, Cruyff, Baggio, Maradona and Beckenbauer.

The Italian coaches have provided new thoughts about the aspect of fitness in the modern game. The lessons, though, that the instructors were teaching Wednesday to 173 youths ages 6-17 at the Fort Collins Soccer Complex weren't focused on how to best make those maneuvers but on the thought process that goes into finding the best solution to the problem presented. That, Davide Corti said, is the purpose of the Milan Junior Camps - a series of youth camps throughout the world run each summer by AC Milan, one of the world's top professional teams.

FC Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi won the inaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the best player of 2010. Brazilian ace Marta won the the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year. Jose Mourinho, the former Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager, bagged the FIFA World Coach of the Year award and German women’s national football team coach Silvia Neid won the award in her category.
FIFA Ballon D'Or winners