Lionel Ballon d’Or Messi

Barcelona ace Lionel Messi was awarded the FIFA Ballon d'Or for the third consecutive year. The 24-year-old forward beat team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo to the title of the world's best player.

Messi, man of the match in the Champions League final in 2011, also won the La Liga, Spanish Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup last year.

Messi's Barcelona team-mate Xavi praised the young Argentinean, predicting a dazzling future for him and proclaiming that Lionel will be named amongst the greats in football.

He said: "He's still young, only 24, and I think he's going to break all the records that exist in this sport.

"He's going to be one of the best footballers in the history of the sport."

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and skipper Nemanja Vidic were both included in the world XI dominated by Spanish La Liga players.

The FIFPro World XI was:

• Goal Keeper: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid),
• Full Back: Dani Alves (Barcelona),
• Center Back: Gerard Pique (Barcelona),
• Center Back: Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd),
• Full Back: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid),
• Mid-Field: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona),
• Mid-Field: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid),
• Mid-Field: Xavi (Barcelona),
• Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona),
• Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid),
• Striker: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd).

Manchester United striker Rooney said at the gala: "It was a great year and the highlight was winning the Premier League for the 19th time, which was a great moment for the club."

OTHER AWARDS:

• Coach of the year: Pep Guardiola(Barcelona).
• Women Player of the year: Homare Sawa (Japan, World Cup winning skipper).
• Coach of the year for women's football: Norio Sasaki (Japan Women’s team manager).
• FIFA fair play award: Japanese FA.
• FIFA Puskas award for the best goal of 2011: Neymar (Santos, Brazil)
• FIFA presidential award for services to football: Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).

Read More

Today’s Premier League Transfer Gossips

->> Chelsea are preparing a 22 million bid for Ricardo Kaka of Real Madrid and they are also ready to sell winger Florent Malouda for 6 million in January.

->> Mercy side Liverpool plans 6 million move for Italian playmaker Ricardo Montolivo in January. Montolivo is currently playing for Serie A side Fiorentina.

->> Sir Alex Ferguson is looking to bolster his midfield and is preparing a 30 million bid for Tottenham ace midfielder Luka Modric.

->> German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen are interested in Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov according to sources in Germany.

->> Alan Pardew’s Newcastle are targeting West Ham United young center back James Tomkins to solve the defensive problems. 

For Details about Real Estate Investing Visit : Jeff Adams Scam

Read More

England Striker Roonay and boss Capello to attend UEFA hearing

The FA have confirmed England striker Wayne Rooney and coach  Fabio Capello will both attend the UEFA disciplinary hearing into the red card that threatens to rule him out of the group stages of Euro 2012.

At the request of the FA, UEFA have approved to bring the hearing forward by one day, to December 8, which will allow United striker to make a personal appearance.

As Manchester United will be in Switzerland for a Champions League clash with Basle the previous evening and will not fly back to England until the Thursday anyway due to flying restrictions, manager Sir Alex Ferguson has given his blessing for Rooney to make the short trip to Nyon in order to plead his case.

And Capello will be with him as the FA legal team try to reduce a three-match ban imposed for the red card Rooney received for kicking out at Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic in Podgorica last month.

"The FA can confirm that Wayne Rooney and Fabio Capello will appear at the personal hearing before the UEFA Appeals Body which will be considering the appeal against the decision to suspend Wayne for three matches following his sending off against Montenegro in October," confirmed the FA.

"UEFA has announced the re-arranged date of the hearing as Thursday, December 8, with Manchester United competing in Switzerland the evening before against FC Basle in the UEFA Champions League.

"Club England managing director Adrian Bevington will also attend the hearing."

FA spokesman Stuart Mawhinney said: "We have worked closely with Manchester United to ensure an agreeable date with UEFA that allows Wayne to attend the hearing in person.

"The FA has provided every support to Wayne and the England team throughout this process.

"Fabio Capello has also been clear about providing his own personal support - which will extend to attending the hearing with Wayne."

Read More

Euro 2012 Seedings

The seedings for next year’s Euro 12 draw to be held on December 2 have been announced, and they have opened up the prospect of some riveting match-ups.

Capallo’s England are in the second group of seeds for the Euro 2012 finals draw, UEFA confirmed on Wednesday.

England are alongside Euro 2008 runners Germany, 2006 world champions Italy and Russia in the second pot.

Reigning world and European champions Spain are in the first pot, along with 2010 World Cup finalists Holland and co-hosts Poland and Ukraine, who have already been allocated to groups 
A and D respectively.

The Republic of Ireland, whose qualification for the finals was confirmed after the playoff victory against Estonia, are in the fourth group of seeds along with Denmark, the Czech Republic and France. That automatically rules out the prospect of Ireland play against France, who knocked them out in a divisive World Cup qualification play-off two years ago.

The draw for the finals will be made in Kiev on December 2.

The worst case scenario for England would be a group containing Spain, Portugal and France.
As well as that possible 'Group of Death' , there is also the chances of a 'Group of Debt' made up of below par Euro zone members Spain, Italy, Greece and the Republic.

A more likely group for the Italian’s team would be to be drawn against Poland - with England having already confirmed they will be based in Krakow - Greece and Czech Republic.
The pots have been decided based on the UEFA coefficient rankings, except for the co-hosts.

Pot 1: Spain, Holland, Poland, Ukraine

Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia

Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland

Read More

Euro 2012 Qualifier Play-off’s

Portugal VS Bosnia-Herzegovina

Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal and Eden Dzeko led Bosnia-Herzegovina will fight for next year’s Euro 12 Finals to be held at Poland and Ukraine. Fortnight ago both sides played out a hesitant 0-0 draw at Zenica. Portuguese supporters will be hoping that their skipper Ronaldo will steer them in to the European Championship.

Republic of Ireland VS Estonia

Robbie Keane led from front in 4-0 win against Estonia in first leg. Eventually they are guaranteed a spot in Euro 12 and they will play the second leg without Keane , as the board was requested by MLS side LA Galaxy to rest their player.  

Montenegro vs Czech Republic

Montenegro will host Czech Republic, after a 2-0 defeat in the first leg. But the Czech’s will be aware of Montenegro forwards Mirko Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic , as they both are in fine form  in Italian Serie A.

Croatia vs Turkey

Croatia won the first leg 3-0 against Turkey in Turin and will look to exploit their home advantage in the second leg.

Read More

Today's Transfer Gossips

->> Chelsea all set to make 25 million bid for Arsenal Forward Thoe Walcott.

->> Liverpool set sight on 19 year old Inter Forward Philippe Coutinho , as the Mercy side looks to blend youth players in their squad.

->> Sir Alex Ferguson set to launch a 25 million move for Brazilian play-maker Ganso, the Santos midfielder is being tracked by most of the European top sides.

->> QPR, West Brom, West Ham and Blackburn Rovers are lining up a move for Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha, the 25 year-old spent last season on loan with Sunderland.

->> Barcelona to make 15 million bid for Arsenal holding midfielder Alex Song in the January transfer window.

->> Italian giants AC Milan are linked with a move for Chelsea strike pair Didiar Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.

Read More

UEFA ban Wayne Rooney for three matches

Fabio Capello's worst worries were realised when UEFA handed England striker Wayne Rooney a three-match ban that will see him miss all of England's Euro 2012 group matches.

Rooney's kick at Montenegro's Miodrag Dzudovoic last Friday was judged "an assault" by UEFA's control and disciplinary panel, who stuck to the letter of the law in handing out the penalty despite a plea for leniency from the Football Association.

It means the Italian manager now has to decide whether to take Rooney as part of his squad to Poland and Ukraine, and hope that he can make an impact if England make it through to the knock-out stages of the tournament.

The FA will wait for the full cause behind the decision before deciding whether to appeal. The ban could even be increased by an appeal panel, but that would be unlikely and it looks odds on that the FA will try to have the suspension reduced.

The Manchester United ace is understood to be extremely disappointed in the outcome but will follow the FA's advice about any appeal.

Former England star Alan Shearer described the ban as "a huge blow" to England's chances in the European Championships, and called the kick "a silly error".

Shearer told BBC Radio 5 Live: "It's a huge blow. It's not only a huge blow to the team, to the fans and to football followers but to Wayne himself because he realises he's made a stupid error.

"I still think whoever replaces him in the team, England still should have enough to get through the three games without him."

Phil Neville, Rooney's former team-mate labeled the ruling "a joke".

The Everton skipper said on Twitter: "Rooney banned for 3 games what a joke- if it was a Dutch Spanish Italian german player they wouldn't even get 1 game #fact."

The 25 year-old was shown a straight red by German referee Wolfgang Stark for kicking Dzudovoic - England manager Capello admitted it was a "silly mistake" by Wayne, who immediately put himself in danger of receiving the three-match ban.

UEFA's disciplinary rules state that a player will receive a "suspension for three competition matches or for a specified period for assaulting another player or other person present at the match".

A UEFA statement said: "Today's decision was taken in relation to the red card shown to Rooney for assault after 74 minutes of England's final Group G game, the 2-2 draw with Montenegro in Podgorica.

"The striker will now be suspended from playing in his country's next three UEFA national competition matches for which he would be eligible."

The FA have 72 hours to decide whether to appeal, and they said in a statement: "Further to UEFA's decision to impose a three-match suspension on Wayne Rooney following his sending-off against Montenegro, the FA await the full reasons from the disciplinary committee, and will give full consideration to the decision internally, before deciding on any response to UEFA or making any further public comment."

The FA had taken some optimism from a previous case involving Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin, who was given a two-match ban and missed Russia's first two games of Euro 2008 after being sent off against Andorra. But in that case television proof was less clear cut than in Rooney's.

Read More

Euro Qualifier Tuesday night Match Results

Teams qualified so far: Denmark, England ,France ,Germany ,Greece ,Holland, Italy                                                            Poland, Ukraine ,Russia, Spain, Sweden

Group A

Kazakhstan 0 - 0 Austria

Germany 3 - 1 Belgium

Turkey 1 - 0 Azerbaijan

Group B

Rep. of Ireland 2 - 1 Armenia

Rep. of Macedonia 1 - 1 Slovakia

Russia 6 - 0 Andorra

Group C

Italy 3 - 0 Northern Ireland

Slovenia 1 - 0 Serbia

Group D

Albania 1 - 1 Romania

France 1 - 1 Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group E

Hungary 0 - 0 Finland

Moldova 4 - 0 San Marino

Sweden 3 - 2 Holland

Group F

Croatia 2 - 0 Latvia

Georgia 1 - 2 Greece

Malta 0 - 2 Israel

Group G

Bulgaria 0 - 1 Wales

Switzerland 2 - 0 Montenegro

Group H

Denmark 2 - 1 Portugal

Norway 3 - 1 Cyprus

Group I

Lithuania 1 - 4 Czech Republic

Spain 3 - 1 Scotland

Read More

Todays’s Transfer Gossips

1)      Real Madrid ready to sign Carlos Tevez from Manchester City, But the English big-spenders seeking atleast £35m. 

2)     Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish keeping a close eye on Borussia Dortmund play-maker Shinji Kagawa. 

3)     Arsenal to make a January loan move for Juve striker  Amauri , to provide back-up for Skipper Robin Van Persie. 

4)     Russian big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala are lining up bids for Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, Chelsea’s Nicolas Anelka and Santos wonder-kid Neymar, according to player-coach Roberto Carlos. 

5)     PSG interested in Arsenal striker  Marouane Chamakh. 

6)     The agent of Inter midfielder Sulley Muntari has confirmed that the Ghana international is interested in a move to Napoli. 

7)     Manchester United and Chelsea lining up a bid for young American international Brek Shea.

Read More