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Ballon d'Or - LIVE: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer in contention for Fifa award

The world's best player is to be crowned at event

Simon Rice,Tom Sheen,Jack de Menezes
Monday 12 January 2015 14:06 GMT
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Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or to be crowned the world's best player at an event in Zurich, Switzerland.

This marks the third time Ronaldo has won the award, the second in succession, after Barcelona rival Lionel Messi had won it the previous four years. Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was also in contention.

As well as the Ballon d'Or, six other awards were dished out. Germany's Nadine Kessler won the best women's player ahead of Brazil's Marta and Abby Wambach of the USA.

Germany's World Cup winning manager Joachim Low was named Coach of the Year ahead of Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone of rivals Atletico Madrid.

There is a Presidential award, gifted to someone who's made a contribution to football that may not have been in the limelight and a Fair Play award.

The final one is the Puskas award for goal of the season. There is big interest to see if Stephanie Roche's incredible effort can beat World Cup strikes by Robin van Persie and James Rodriguez.

The FIFA/FIFPro World XI of 2014 was also revealed, with David Luiz one of a couple of selections that raised eyebrows.

You can keep up to date with the latest news from Zurich with our live blog...

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