November 2012

Golden Boot Award

Lionel Messi, the Barcelonean forward footballer on 29 October 2012 wonGolden Boot Award. Messi won the award in recognition to his record 50 goals scored in the Europe’s domestic football league in the last session.

To win the award he scored 4 more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo, the Spanish league star.

This is the second Golden Boot award for Messi, as he won his first Golden Boot Award in the year 2010 after scoring 34 goals during Argentina International to help Barcelona win the league title. He is also in the list of the favorites to win the 2012 Ballon d’Or for the World’s best player.

ABOUT LIONEL MESSI

The Flea is the nickname given the Messi for his uncanny abilities of dribbling the ball through defenders.

The 25 year old is an Argentine Footballer and a captain to the national team of Argentina and fourth footballer to win three Ballons d’or. He is also the second player to win three Ballon’s d’Or consecutively.

Some of the Records by his name

• He scored 73 goals, the highest number of goals in a season in all the competitions and broke the European record of 67 goals made in the year 1972-73 by Bayern Munich’s Gerd Mueller
• By scoring 14 goals he became the person to score maximum goals in European Cup season; this record is jointly shared with Jose Altafini
• With 8 hat-tricks, he became the person to score maximum La Liga hat-tricks in one season
• With 15 hat-tricks, he became the person to score maximum La Liga hat-tricks overall
• His triump with 21 hat-tricks made him the person to score maximum hat-tricks in all competitions overall
• 4 awards of as a top scorer in European Cup and he shares this position with Gerd Muller

MICHAEL BALLACK RETIRED

The Former Germany captain Ballack, who had played for Bayern Munich and Chelsea, had called a halt to his professional football career on 3 October 2012.

It was the downtime in his career which showed him that the time was right to stop. Ballack became a free agent at the end of June after Leverkusen opted not to offer their former captain a contract extension. Ballack began his professional career in 1995 and won the first of four Bundesliga titles with Kaiserslautern in 1998. He missed out on a major trophy with Leverkusen in his first spell at the club and in 2002 he finished as a runner-up in the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League and World Cup. He spent the last two seasons of his career with Leverkusen and appeared for the last time in a 4-1 win over Nurnberg, leaving the field to a standing ovation in the 51st minute of what turned out to be his last-ever game as a professional Footballer. Internationally, Ballack has played in the European Championships in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006. Jurgen Klinsmann appointed him captain of the national team in 2004. Ballack scored consecutive game-winning goals in the quarter-final and semi-final to help his country to the 2002 World Cup Final, and led his team to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup and the Euro 2008 Final. He is among the top goal scorers in the history of his international team. He was also selected by Pele as one of FIFA’s 100 Greatest Living Players and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He has won the German Footballer of the Year award three times – in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Ballack is known for his passing range, scoring ability, ball skills, and commanding presence in the midfield.

MASCOT OF 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP, BRAZIL

A Smiling Armadillo is declared to be the official mascot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on 12 September 2012. The reports state that FIFA has registered the patent for this rare animal with the European Patent Office as a symbol to this extreme sporting event.

Officials declared that internet poll will help in deciding the name of this mascot. Brazuca the name of the ball for the world cup 2014 to was finalized by the opinion poll on internet. The armadillo in Brazil is known by the name of ‘tatu-bola’ and is known for its abilities of rolling itself in form of a ball to with a leathery shell as a symbol of self defence.

In the previous FIFA World Cup the mascots were:

• FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa- Zakumi the green-haired leopard
• FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany- Goleo named lion

Taking the Armadillo as an official mascot for the mega event was backed by a NGO named Caatinga Association engaged in protection of the biodiversity of North Eastern Brazil.

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