Chapter 636 Return of the King
The 2008 FIFA Awards Ceremony is scheduled to be held on the evening of January 12th.
This should be the latest in recent years.
According to FIFA, this will allow a better assessment of the players' performances throughout 2008.
After all, it was held in December, and there were still a few days left until the end of 2008.
The party was held in the evening, but Su Dong arrived at noon.
Although he had just flown from the Middle East to Switzerland and was physically and mentally exhausted, Su Dong was still in good spirits.
Especially when he was received by FIFA staff and just checked into the hotel, he met Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi who came specially for him, and he felt even happier.
"Ronnie, nice to see you!" Su Dong gave Ronnie a big hug.
Messi's treatment was even more special. In addition to hugging, Su Dong also touched his head affectionately.
Although he cut off his iconic Argentine long hair, Messi still has a middle-parted hairstyle that reaches his ears and feels good to the touch.
"You little brat, you've been very popular recently. Are you planning to defeat me?" Su Dong asked cheerfully.
Messi also kept laughing. He didn't think Su Dong was threatening him, but was more happy.
"By the way, Xiaobai asked me to congratulate you on his behalf." Messi said.
Su Dong nodded and touched Messi's head again, as if he was touching Iniesta this time.
Although the World Footballer of the Year has not yet been announced, everyone has basically concluded that Su Dong is a sure winner.
Throughout 2008, Su Dong won countless awards. Just from authoritative awards and championships such as the German Football Association, Bundesliga, Bayern, UEFA, FIFA and other organizations, Su Dong won more than 30 awards. It can be said that he won too many awards.
Especially recently, after winning the Golden Globe Award, Su Dong has been at the peak of his career.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Su Dong has not only staged a comeback as a king, but his reputation is even greater than it was three years ago.
With this kind of momentum, it would be absolutely unacceptable not to win an award.
If FIFA really gives the award to someone else, it will only damage the authority of the World Footballer of the Year and give the Ballon d'Or away for nothing, so such a thing will basically not happen.
…
Although they haven't seen each other for a long time, Su Dong often talks on the phone with Ronnie and Messi.
Ronnie has been linked with Real Madrid for the past two years. There were previous rumors that Calderon had reached an agreement with Manchester United and would sign Ronnie in the summer of 2009. But now that Calderon has suddenly been sacked, the media has changed the subject, believing that if Florentino comes to power, he will sign Ronnie.
Su Dong actually knew some inside information.
Calderon did have contact with Ronnie, Manchester United and Mendes, but both Ronnie and Mendes had reservations about Calderon.
To put it simply, I think this guy is unreliable.
Don't think that being backed by a giant like Real Madrid will make people look up to you. On the contrary, people like Calderon and Mijatovic are simply a joke in the European football circle. Who would recognize them? Florentino can be so successful in European football not just because he is the president of Real Madrid, but more importantly, he is Florentino Perez! If Ronaldinho really wants to transfer to Real Madrid, it must be under Florentino, not Calderon.
Messi's situation is better. He has been in the top three for two consecutive years and has secured his position as the number one player in Barcelona. Even Bojan, who is a direct product of Barcelona's youth training, finds it difficult to shake him.
The only trouble is that Mourinho's coaching style is not unrestrained enough. Although he gives Messi enough freedom, it still somewhat limits Barcelona's overall level, especially in passing, controlling the ball and creativity.
So now, the Catalan media's attitude towards Mourinho is also contradictory.
On the one hand, Mourinho led Barcelona to a commanding lead in La Liga, sweeping away the sluggishness of the previous Rijkaard era. But on the other hand, his football was so un-Barcelona that many fans were dissatisfied. Cruyff even denounced Mourinho in his column every week, and even the locker room had some objections.
However, the results are good now and Mourinho is still the king of Camp Nou.
…
When three people get together, it is naturally impossible for them to talk about such private matters.
Ronnie and Messi are not particularly familiar with each other. They came together more because of Su Dong. Therefore, they would tell Su Dong a lot of things, but they would never mention them when the three of them were together.
Su Dong was also very clear about this, so he refused to mention it.
When Ronnie won the award before, Wang Chuqing once said that if she attended the award ceremony, it would definitely be to celebrate Su Dong's award, but she still did not attend this year. The reason was that she suddenly became famous for no reason recently and she didn't want to show up again.
When the three of them mentioned this matter, Su Dong was also speechless, but he strongly suggested that Messi should also bring Xiaofang, oh no, should call Antonella out, she will definitely become famous.
The topic quickly turned to Manchester City's signing of Kaka.
After signing Robinho, Manchester City spent a large sum of money to sign Kaka. AC Milan found it difficult to resist the financial bombardment from the Middle Eastern tycoons and basically surrendered. Now only Kaka is still under consideration.
Obviously, he also needs to weigh the pros and cons.
Speaking of Kaka, Kaka turned around and arrived.
As soon as Kaka heard that Su Dong and the other two were getting together, he quickly knocked on the door to visit.
This year, FIFA changed the tradition of having only three candidates on the list and changed it to five people. Kaka and Torres were also shortlisted in the five-man list, but it is not known how they are ranked.
One thing that is certain is that there is basically no suspense about the top three, Su Dong, Ronaldo and Messi. The only difference is who will rank third between Ronaldo and Messi.
Kaka and Torres are basically fourth and fifth, it's just a matter of who goes up and who goes down.
…………
…………
They chatted in the hotel until the afternoon. Under the arrangement of the staff, the four followed Torres who arrived later and went to the Zurich Opera House in casual clothes to attend the press conference of the World Footballer of the Year.
Su Dong deservedly sat in the C position and received the most questions from media reporters, including some tricky questions.
Today's Su Dong has already experienced many storms in the past years and is very familiar with dealing with the media. He easily resolved their tricks and praised the other four candidates in a fair and humble manner.
On the contrary, when asked who was most likely to win the prize, the other four people all chose Su Dong.
It is not difficult to see that Su Dong's winning of the award this year is well deserved.
…
After the press conference, the five people returned to the hotel to rest.
After dinner, everyone dressed up.
Su Dong wore a black suit provided by the sponsor and looked very energetic. Ronnie, Messi, Kaka and others were also all dressed in suits and ties, looking very formal.
After arriving at the venue, Su Dong met with famous players such as Beckenbauer, Platini, Zidane and others, and received their congratulations.
Everyone knows that tonight belongs to Su Dong.
Having won so many championships, so many honors, and so many awards, would it be justified if Su Dong didn't win another award?
Su Dong responded politely.
…
At the beginning of the evening party, the first thing to be announced was the list of five World Footballer of the Year and five World Footballer of the Year, as well as their respective performances in 2008, which served as a warm-up for the award ceremony.
The video then reviewed some important matches in world football in 2008, and introduced the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
FIFA Vice President and UEFA President Platini took the stage to deliver a speech and also presented the Football Promotion Award.
This is a new award added this year, presented to the Palestinian Football Association. Under difficult circumstances, they renovated their home stadium and hosted the first national team home game in October 2008, which was recognized by FIFA.
Türkiye and Armenia shared the Fair Play Award, and women's football received the FIFA President's Award in recognition of the rapid development of women's football in recent years.
Finally, there are two grand prizes.
In order to show the importance of these two awards, the award presenters were all the most important people. FIFA Executive Committee member Beckenbauer and the King of Football Pele presented the awards together, which is also very rare.
Caesar and the King of Football are recognized as the two greatest football players in the history of world football and are also the two football kings officially recognized by FIFA. They both went on stage to present the awards and received thunderous applause from the audience.
The World Footballer of the Year award was established in 2001. It is a lighter title and was first revealed with Brazilian female football player Marta winning it.
This is the third time Marta has won the World Footballer of the Year award, tying her with German female football player Prinz.
This year, Marta defeated Prinz to win the award.
After the awarding of the World Footballer of the Year, the evening came to the climax, which was also the most anticipated part by everyone in the audience.
World Footballer of the Year!
Bailey jokingly asked Beckenbauer if he felt nervous. Beckenbauer smiled and said that he was not nervous at all, "I am very confident!"
Pele also said with a smile that he was not nervous either because Brazilians had little chance this year.
Everyone present burst into laughter.
When the awards were finally announced, the two exchanged some courtesies, and in the end, Bailey was responsible for announcing the award.
"The player who won the 2008 World Footballer of the Year award is..."
Bailey paused deliberately, looked at all the guests in the audience jokingly, and laughed.
This somewhat mischievous act once again received laughter and applause from the audience.
The personality of the football king Pele is just as unpredictable as his playing style on the court.
"Su Dong!!!!" Bailey suddenly shouted.
The whole audience burst into even louder cheers.
Su Dong immediately stood up from his seat and hugged Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka, Torres and other players who were shortlisted for the top five. Then he turned around and bowed deeply to all the guests present.
When he stepped onto the podium, Beckenbauer had already opened his arms towards him.
This is the first World Footballer of the Year in the history of the Bundesliga and the first World Footballer of the Year in the history of Bayern Munich.
Tonight, this award not only belongs to Su Dong, but also to Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga, and even German football! Especially when Su Dong took the award from Pele and held it high above his head, the whole audience burst into the warmest cheers.
Su Dong finally got what he wanted, staged a comeback, and won the double Footballer of the Year award again!
(End of this chapter)
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