Germany coach Joachim Löw and compatriot Ralf
Kellermann, coach of VfL Wolfsburg Ladies, have been named as FIFA World
Coaches of the Year for Men’s and Women’s Football, respectively. The winners
were chosen by the coaches and captains of national teams as well as by
international media representatives invited by FIFA andFrance
Football.The entire electoral procedure was overseen and monitored by
PricewaterhouseCoopers Switzerland (PwC).
The awards were presented on Monday evening (12 January 2015) during a 90-minute show at Zurich’sKongresshausthat was hosted by British journalist Kate Abdo. Musical entertainment for the 1,100 guests and TV viewers in 190 countries and territories around the world was provided by Swiss singer-songwriter Bastian Baker.
International players’ union FIFPro also invited
24,000 professional players from around the world to vote for the FIFA FIFPro
World XI, the best team of 2014, with the following result: Manuel Neuer
(Germany) in goal; David Luiz (Brazil), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Sergio Ramos
(Spain) and Thiago Silva (Brazil) in defence; Ángel Di María (Argentina),
Andrés Iniesta (Spain) and Toni Kroos (Germany) in midfield; and Cristiano
Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Arjen Robben (Netherlands) in
attack.
The FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal of the year
was also presented after 3.3 million football fans cast their votes on
FIFA.com, FIFA on YouTube andfrancefootball.fr. This
award, which honours Ferenc Puskás, the captain and star of the 1950s Hungary
team, was won by Colombian midfielder James Rodríguez, who demonstrated perfect
technique to give his side a 1-0 lead over Uruguay in the round of 16 at the
2014 FIFA World Cup™ (final score: 2-0).Rodríguez topped the poll with
42% of the votes ahead of Stephanie Roche (33%) and Robin van Persie (11%).
During the show, other people were also commended
for their services to football on or off the pitch. Journalist Hiroshi Kagawa,
90, was presented with the FIFA Presidential Award by President Blatter. The
Japanese from Kobe was honoured for his tireless work for football in Japan,
which has continued to grow in popularity in his homeland thanks to his
articles and incredible passion for the game. He was the oldest media
representative on duty at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which was also his
tenth World Cup.
The FIFA Fair Play Award was presented to all
volunteers who have worked at FIFA competitions, because without their work,
their tireless support, their enthusiasm and their passion for the game, it
would be virtually impossible for FIFA to organise its many tournaments year
in, year out.
The awards at a glance:
The FIFA Ballon d’Or was presented for the fifth time since the merging of the FIFA World Player of the Year award andFrance Football’sBallon d’Or award in 2010.
· 181 national team
coaches, 182 national team captains, and 181 media representatives submitted
their votes for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award. Cristiano Ronaldo won the title
with 37.66% of all votes ahead of Lionel Messi (15.76%) and Manuel Neuer
(15.72%).
· 148 national team
coaches, 146 national team captains, and 90 media representatives voted for the
FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award. Nadine Kessler came out on top
with 17.52% of all votes, ahead of Brazil’s Marta (14.16%) and the USA’s Abby
Wambach (13.33%).
· 181 national team
coaches, 182 national team captains, and 181 media representatives voted for
the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award. Joachim Löw won the
award with 36.23% of all votes after leading Germany to glory at the World Cup
in Brazil. Second and third place were claimed by Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid
CF, 22.06%) and Diego Simeone (Atlético de Madrid, 19.02%), respectively.
· 147 national team
coaches, 145 national team captains, and 90 media representatives voted for the
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football award. Ralf Kellermann, who
guided VfL Wolfsburg to a successful defence of their UEFA Women’s Champions
League title last season, won the award after securing 17.06% of all votes,
ahead of Maren Meinert (coach of the Germany U-19 and U-20 women’s national
teams, 13.16%) and Japan coach Norio Sasaki (13.06%).
More information on the show, background stories
and detailed voting results can be found on FIFA.com andfrancefootball.fr.
Source: FIFA Media