JUVENTUS star Cristiano Ronaldo has fended off competition from Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski to win the 2020 Golden Foot award.
The 35-year-old has been named as the 18th recipient of the prestigious trophy that can only be won once during a player’s career.
Cristiano Ronaldo has added the Golden Foot award to his long list of personal accolades[/caption]
To be in contention for the award – that was introduced in 2003 for Europe’s standout performers – footballers must be at least 28 years of age.
The winners are then invited to leave a mould of their footprints on the ‘The Champions Promenade’ in Monaco.
Ten players are shortlisted for the trophy by international journalists, with the general public then voting for their winner in an online poll.
And it is Ronaldo that received the most votes from fans across the world after he finished the 2019/20 season with 37 goals in 46 games.
Ronaldo has been in fine form this term too having found the back of the net nine times in just seven outings for the Old Lady.
Along with Ronaldo, Messi, Lewandowski, Neymar, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Sergio Aguero, Giorgio Chiellini and Arturo Vidal were all nominated.
It seems incredible that Ronaldo – who has won the Champions League and Ballon d’Or five times each – has never won the Golden Foot before.
And the fact that Messi has never claimed the trophy remains a mystery with the two dominating football for well over a decade.
Winners of the Golden Foot award
- 2003 – Roberto Baggio – Brescia
- 2004 – Pavel Nedved – Juventus
- 2005 – Andriy Shevchenko – AC Milan
- 2006 – Ronaldo – Real Madrid
- 2007 – Alessandro Del Piero – Juventus
- 2008 – Roberto Carlos – Fenerbahce
- 2009 – Ronaldinho – AC Milan
- 2010 – Francesco Totti – Roma
- 2011 – Ryan Giggs – Manchester United
- 2012 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Paris Saint-Germain
- 2013 – Didier Drogba – Galatasaray
- 2014 – Andres Iniesta – Barcelona
- 2015 – Samuel Eto’o – Antalyaspor
- 2016 – Gianluigi Buffon – Juventus
- 2017 – Iker Casillas – Porto
- 2018 – Edinson Cavani – Paris Saint-Germain
- 2019 – Luka Modric – Real Madrid
- 2020 – Cristiano Ronaldo – Juventus
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Luka Modric have all won the award at a younger age than Ronaldo.
The trophy has largely been dominated by Serie A clubs since it’s inception, with Italian teams boasting the winner eight out of 18 times.
Ronaldo wasn’t the only Bianconeri representative to secure silverware, as club president Andrea Agnelli was crowned the winner of the inaugural Golden Foot Prestige award.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
