Chapter 506: The Gathering of the Big Three
Two days later, on the afternoon of October 23rd, Bruno and Mourinho appeared at the Palladium Theatre in London. This evening, the 2016-2017 FIFA Awards Ceremony would be held at this theatre.
Earlier this year, the 2016 FIFA Awards Ceremony took place at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Despite being named in the final three for the FIFA World Player of the Year and making the FIFA FIFPro World XI, Bruno did not attend the ceremony, citing that Manchester United had a League Cup semifinal the following day.
This time, Bruno actually didn't want to attend the ceremony either, knowing he was still unlikely to win the World Player of the Year, despite his near-perfect performances. However, because FIFA was holding the ceremony in London, just an hour away by private jet, it would be blatant disrespect towards FIFA and Cristiano Ronaldo if Bruno didn't attend.
So, reluctantly, Bruno went to London and appeared at the Palladium Theatre for the ceremony. Upon arrival, Bruno was amused to see that Messi was also in attendance. It's worth noting that Messi had skipped the FIFA Awards Ceremony in the previous two years.
This marked the first time the new "Big Three" of football - Ronaldo, Messi, and Bruno - gathered together, signaling the official end of the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly on the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
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As the awards were announced, there were no surprises. After winning the 2016 World Player of the Year earlier this year, Ronaldo once again won the 2017 World Player of the Year.
This result was expected, as Ronaldo had an outstanding 2017. In less than ten months, he scored 48 goals in various competitions for Real Madrid and the Portugal national team, helping the "Galacticos" win La Liga, the Champions League, and the Spanish Super Cup. He also led Portugal to victory in the Confederations Cup.
Most notably, Real Madrid won the Champions League this year, becoming the first team to defend their title since the competition was rebranded in 1992. Over the past 25 seasons, several teams came close to defending their title but ultimately fell short.
For example, AC Milan reached three consecutive finals from 1993 to 1995, winning only in 1994 against Barcelona and losing to Ajax in the other two seasons. Ajax won the 1995 Champions League but lost to Juventus in the 1996 final. Juventus then lost in the finals of 1997 and 1998.
At the turn of the century, Valencia finished as runners-up in 2000 and 2001. Similarly, Manchester United, under Ferguson, with stars Ronaldo and Rooney, set a record of 25 consecutive unbeaten matches in the Champions League but won only the 2008 title, losing the 2009 final to Barcelona.
This year, Real Madrid, the so-called "Kings of the Champions League," finally broke the curse, becoming the first team in 26 years to defend their Champions League title.
In fact, since the start of the 21st century, it had become increasingly difficult for any team to reach the Champions League final two years in a row. Only Valencia, Manchester United, and Real Madrid had managed this feat in seventeen years.
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While Ronaldo unsurprisingly retained the World Player of the Year title, the voting results revealed his margin of victory was not significant.
According to data from FIFA's official website, although Ronaldo topped the votes in all four voting groups, his lead over Bruno was narrow.
Among national team captains, Ronaldo garnered 8.11% of the votes, Bruno 7.69%, and Messi 2.1%. Among national team coaches, Ronaldo received 8.52%, Bruno 8.01%, and Messi 1.97%. Among media representatives, Ronaldo had 8.42%, Bruno 7.75%, and Messi 2.43%. Lastly, in the fan vote, Ronaldo got 8.91%, Messi 8.31%, and Messi 1.55%.
Overall, Ronaldo received 33.96% of the votes, while Bruno got 31.76%, a mere 2.2 percentage points behind Ronaldo.
This narrow margin reflected Bruno's impressive individual performance in 2017, even surpassing Ronaldo in some respects. In the first ten months of 2017, Bruno played 55 matches in all competitions for Manchester United and the Portugal national team, scoring 60 goals and providing 34 assists. He helped United win six trophies: the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League, Community Shield, and European Super Cup, and also led Portugal to the Confederations Cup title.
However, Bruno's lack of participation in the 2016-2017 Champions League ultimately hindered his chances of surpassing Ronaldo.
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This marked Ronaldo's fifth World Player of the Year title (FIFA Ballon d'Or), following wins in 2008, 2013, 2014, and 2016, making him the player with the most World Player of the Year titles in history, surpassing Messi.
Ronaldo had Bruno to thank for his 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or win; otherwise, he would have merely equaled Messi's record.
In other awards, Dutch footballer Lieke Martens won the FIFA Women's Player of the Year, beating out Venezuelan forward Deyna Castellanos and American footballer Carli Lloyd.
The Best FIFA Men's Coach award nominees were Allegri, Mourinho, and Zidane. Allegri led Juventus to the Serie A title and the Champions League final, Mourinho guided Manchester United to six trophies in 2017, and Zidane led Real Madrid to the Champions League and La Liga double, as well as the Spanish Super Cup.
As expected, Zidane won the Best FIFA Men's Coach award, beating out Allegri and Mourinho. Dutch women's coach Sarina Wiegman won the Best FIFA Women's Coach award, Giroud won the Puskás Award, Celtic fans won the FIFA Fan Award, and Francis Kone won the FIFA Fair Play Award.
In the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the lineup included Buffon, Alves, Bonucci, Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Bruno Fernandes, Messi, Ibrahimović, and Ronaldo.
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