The Ballon d'Or is an annual football award presented by French news magazine France Football since 1956 and co-organized alongside UEFA since 2024. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year and known as the FIFA Ballon d'Or. That partnership ended in 2016, and the award reverted to the Ballon d'Or, while FIFA also reverted to its own separate annual award The Best FIFA Men's Player. The recipients of the joint FIFA Ballon d'Or are considered as winners by both award organisations.
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina.
Xavier Hernández Creus, also known as Xavi Hernández or simply Xavi, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his passing, vision, ball retention, and positioning. He won 32 trophies in his career, making him the second-most decorated Spanish player in history, behind former teammate Andrés Iniesta.
Lionel Andrés Messi, also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record eight Ballon d'Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 he was named to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team. Until leaving the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and the UEFA Champions League four times. With his country, he won the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (eight), and most assists in La Liga (192) and the Copa América (17). He also has the most international goals by a South American male (106). Messi has scored over 800 senior career goals for club and country, and has the most goals by a player for a single club (672).
At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game.
The Onze d'Or is an association football award given by French magazine Onze Mondial since 1976. The award honors the best player in Europe, with any player in a European league eligible. Since 1991, there has also been a vote for the best coach of the year.
World Soccer is an English-language football magazine, published by Kelsey Media. The magazine was established in 1960 and is the oldest continually published football magazine in the United Kingdom. It specialises in the international football scene. Its regular contributing writers include Brian Glanville, Keir Radnedge, Sid Lowe and Tim Vickery. World Soccer is a member of the European Sports Magazines (ESM), an umbrella group of similar magazines printed in other languages. The members of this group elect a European "Team of the Month" and a European "Team of the Year".
El Clásico or El Clàssic, both meaning "The Classic", is the name given to any football match between rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. Originally referring to competitions held in the Spanish championship, the term now includes every match between the clubs, such as those in the UEFA Champions League, Supercopa de España and Copa del Rey. It is considered one of the biggest club football games in the world and is among the most viewed annual sporting events. A fixture known for its intensity, it has featured memorable goal celebrations from both teams, often involving mockery from both sides.
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, known as Neymar Júnior or mononymously as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Brazil national team. A technically gifted player, Neymar is a prolific goalscorer and playmaker renowned for his flamboyant style of play, passing abilities and two-footedness. He finished third for the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2015 and 2017 and is a recipient of the FIFA Puskás Award. Regarded as the best Brazilian player of his generation and one of the greatest forwards of his generation, Neymar has scored at least 100 goals for three different clubs, making him one of the few players to achieve this feat.
The La Liga Awards, previously known as the LFP awards, were presented annually by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) to the best players and coach in La Liga, the first division of association football in Spain. Established in the 2008–09 season, they were the first official awards in the history of the Spanish competition. La Liga's best coach and player in each position—goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and forward—were chosen based on a voting by the captain and vice-captains of each club, while the best player overall was determined via statistical analysis.
The FIFA Ballon d'Or was an annual association football award presented to the world's best men's player from 2010 to 2015. Awarded jointly by FIFA and France Football, the prize was a merger of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d'Or, the two most prestigious individual honours in world football. Unlike the Ballon d'Or awarded by France Football, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, was not awarded based on votes from international journalists, but votes from national team coaches and captains, who selected the players they deemed to have performed the best in the previous calendar year.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 is a video game which is the eleventh edition in the Pro Evolution Soccer series developed and published by Konami. Lionel Messi, who was the cover star for the series since PES 2009, was replaced by PES 2008 cover star Cristiano Ronaldo, while Borussia Dortmund player Shinji Kagawa replaces Messi as the cover star for the Japanese release. The US and Latin American cover features Santos player Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Messi–Ronaldo rivalry, or Ronaldo–Messi rivalry, is a sporting rivalry in football propelled by the media and fans that involves Argentine footballer Lionel Messi and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, mainly for being contemporaries and due to their similar records and sporting successes. They spent nine seasons in the prime of their careers facing off regularly while playing for rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Goal, stylized in all caps and alternatively known as Goal.com, is a website currently dedicated to the coverage of international association football. Currently owned by the Integrated Media Company (IMC) division of TPG Inc. since 2020, it is published in 18 languages across 38 global regions and edited by over 500 contributors as at 2019.
The Guardian 100 Best Male Footballers in the World is a list of the greatest male footballers published annually by the British newspaper The Guardian. From its inception to 2017, it was known as The Guardian 100 Best Footballers in the World. It is decided by a panel of experts from several nations.
The La Liga is a Spanish professional league for association football club. At the top of the Spanish football league system, it is the country's primary football competition and is contested by 20 clubs. The competition was formed in 1929, with an initial format of 10 teams.
