THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Real Madrid’s Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best soccer player in the world for the second year running at FIFA’s The Best awards gala on Monday.
The four-time Ballon d‘Or winner won a La Liga and Champions League double with the Madrid club this year.
He stroke twice against Juventus in the European Cup final to help Real become the first team to retain the trophy in its current format.
Barcelona’s Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who has won the Ballon d‘or five times, and Paris St Germain’s Brazil forward Neymar were runners up for the award voted for by national team coaches and captains plus the media and fans.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player award and the Ballon d‘or, which is voted for only by the media, are now separate awards.
Real Madrid’s French coach Zinedine Zidane won the manager of the year trophy for his part in the club’s success.
Five Real players were named in the best XI of the year, with Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos joining Ronaldo.
Messi, Neymar, Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Dani Alves (PSG), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan) and Andres Iniesta (Barcelona) were also selected.
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud won the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year, which was the Frenchman’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace, and Buffon was declared best goalkeeper.
The Netherlands’ Lieke Martens won best female player of the year, while the Dutch women’s national team coach Sarina Weigman was voted best manager after the team’s triumph at Euro 2017.
Austin Ohaegbu
