Cristiano Ronaldo has made the three-man shortlist for FIFA's world player of the year award.
The Manchester United winger is up against AC Milan's Brazilian Kaka, who is the favourite, and Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
The award will be made at FIFA's world player gala in Zurich on December 17.
Each national team manager and player is given a vote for their player of the year.
None of the trio have won the award or even been shortlisted before and it has never been won by a Premier League player.
Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro is the current holder of the award. French midfielder Zinedine Zidane and Brazilian striker Ronaldo both won it three times, while Ronaldinho has won the award twice.
In the women's award, Brazilian duo Cristiane and current holder Marta have both been shortlisted along with Germany's three-time winner Birgit Prinz.
Kaka(Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite)
His nickname is pronounced as it is spelled, with stress on the second syllable. It is a common term of endearment of "Ricardo" in Brazil. In Kaká's case, however, it was born from younger brother Rodrigo calling him "Caca" due to his inability to pronounce "Ricardo"; it eventually evolved into Kaká.[8] He is occasionally called "Ricky Kaka" by the European media.
Kaka is one of the most unselfish footballer and I love the way he plays for the team.
I also like him as a human being, as he has served as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations' World Food Programme. In spite of all the fame and glory he has achieved at such a young age he is still down to earth and his quote "I learnt that it is faith that decides whether something will happen or not", is one of the most inspiring thoughts on field. He removed his jersey to reveal an "I Belong to Jesus" T-shirt and openly engaged in prayer moments after the final whistle of Milan's 2007 Champions League triumph. Kaká previously sported the same shirt during Milan's 2004 Scudetto celebration and after Brazil's defeat of Germany in the 2002 World Cup final, and had the same phrase, along with "God Is Faithful," stitched onto the tongues of his boots.
His goal celebration consists of him pointing to the sky as a gesture of thanks to God, and he is proud that he was a virgin when he married.
Kaka in 2006-07
Shevchenko's departure to Chelsea FC for the 2006-07 season allowed Kaká to become the focal point of Milan's offense as he alternated between the midfield and striker positions. He finished as the top scorer in the 2006-07 CL campaign with ten goals, which proved a catalyst in steering Milan back to European success. One of them helped the Rossoneri beat Celtic FC 1-0 after extra time in the quarterfinals on a 1-0 aggregate, and three others proved fatal for Manchester United in the semifinals despite Milan losing the first leg. Following the convincing 3-0 second-leg defeat at the San Siro on May 2 that knocked out the English champions, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson declared that Kaka was one of the two best players in the world, alongside his charge Cristiano Ronaldo.The previous month, a panel of experts set up by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport proclaimed Kaká as the world's best footballer. Shevchenko also included his endorsement, while suggesting that Kaká deserved to win the Ballon d'Or.[3]
Kaká added the Champions League title to his trophy case for the first time when Milan defeated Liverpool F.C. 2-1 in Athens on May 23, 2007. Though he went scoreless, he won a free kick that led to the first of Filippo Inzaghi's two goals, and provided the assist for the second. For his stellar play throughout the competition, he was voted the Vodafone Fans' Player of the Season in a poll of over 100,000 UEFA.com visitors. In June 2007, German football publication Kicker named him the world's best player, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho finishing second and third, respectively, while he was also given this honor by UK publication The Times. On August 30, Kaká was named by UEFA as both the top forward of the 2006-07 CL season and Club Footballer of the Year.
He played his 200th career match with Milan in a 1-1 home draw with Calcio Catania on September 30, 2007, and on October 5, he was named the 2006-07 FIFPro World Player of the Year.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Personal life
As an individual he is exactly contrdictive to Kaka, and in October of 2005, Ronaldo and another man were questioned by police for an alleged sexual assault. Ronaldo denied the accusation and the Crown Prosecution Service stated there was insufficient evidence to press charges.In September 2007, Ronaldo caused controversy again when he was involved in an alleged sexually-based incident with some girls in Leeds along with new team mates Anderson and Nani who are residing at Ronaldo's house while they settle into English life. The girls sold their story to the Sunday Mirror [52] and the News of the World, although Alex Ferguson decided not to punish him.
Ronaldo in 2006-07
As the end of each season approached, particularly in 2006 and 2007, it became traditional for rumours to start floating that Ronaldo was unsettled at Manchester United and wanted to play for Real Madrid - the rumours frequently originating from the board of Real Madrid who were reported in April 2007 to be willing to pay an unprecedented 80 million (£54 million) for Ronaldo.At the beginning of March 2007, however, Ronaldo, as well as Manchester United, confirmed that they would be negotiating an extension to his current contract. On 13 April 2007, Ronaldo signed a five-year, £120,000-a-week deal with United, making him the highest-paid player in United's history.He said, "I am very happy at the club and I want to win trophies and hopefully we will do that this season".
He was the highest goalscoring midfielder in Premier league and was second highest goal scorer with 23 goals. He also assisted as many as 20 goals.
Lionel Messi
Personal Life
Lionel Messi was born in Santa
Fe Province on 24 June 1987. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys.[3] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[4] River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost over £500 a month, as Argentina's economy was collapsing.[citation needed] Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play,[5] offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain.[3] His family moved with the young player to Europe and he starred in the clubs youth teams.[5]
He soon found himself starting for the Barcelona B team, averaging more than a goal per game, by scoring 37 goals in 30 matches.
Messi in 2006-07
Consistently strong performances and the occasional goal meant Messi was not starting any more games on the bench. Failure to effectively replace the injured Eto'o and poor defensive displays prevented Barcelona from taking advantage of Messi's showings against Chelsea and Real Madrid[27]. This would later prove critical to their title challenges. On November 12, in the game against Real Zaragoza, Messi suffered a broken metatarsal from tackles, ruling him out for 3 months[28][29]. Barça carried out his recuperation in native Argentina. During this period there were rumours of interest in the player from Inter Milan[30][31]. Messi returned to action against Racing Santander on the 11th of February, coming on as a second-half substitute[4]. Rijkaard carefully managed his complete return, gradually increasing playing minutes with each game. One month since his return, on the 10th of March, he played his first full league match since the injury, Real Madrid being the opposition. Once again, El Clásico saw Messi in top form, scoring a hat-trick to earn 10-man Barcelona a 3-3 draw, equalising thrice and with the final goal coming in injury time. In doing so he became the first player since Iván Zamorano (for Real Madrid in the 1994-95 season) and the first Barcelona player since Romario(1993-94 season) to hit a hat-trick in the El Clásico. Messi is also the youngest player ever to have scored in this fixture. The game also marked the beginning of Messi's best spell of form with Barça. He also began finding the net more often, 11 of his 14 league goals for the season coming from the last 13 games. Despite his spirited efforts, Barcelona felt marginally short in its defence of the La Liga title, Real Madrid winning on a better head-to-head record.
Messi also proved the 'new Maradona' tag was not all hype, by near-replicating both of Maradona's most famous goals (the two against England in the 1986 World Cup) in the space of the single season. On April 18, 2007, he scored two goals during a Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of which was very similar to Maradona's famous goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, known as the Goal of the Century.[33]. The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona". He ran about the same distance (62 metres), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before. In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate Deco said: "There's no other like Leo". Later on, in a crucial league match with Espanyol, Messi scored a goal that drew comparisons to Maradona's Hand of God goal.
