Messi To Beat Ronaldo To FIFA World Player Of The Year?!

The readers have spoken, and more have voted for Lionel Messi to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award than any other option...

On Friday we asked the readers to vote on who would win the FIFA World Player of the Year award for the calendar year of 2008.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Ballon d'Or winner, is seen as the hot favourite, but it seems that more Goal.com readers believe that Lionel Messi of Barcelona is in with a fine chance, while Fernando Torres, Kaka, and Xavi serve as also-rans.

The results ran as follows:

Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona / Argentina) - 42.57%
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United / Portugal) - 31.68%
Fernando Torres (Liverpool / Spain) - 9.90%
Kaka (AC Milan / Brazil) - 7.92%
Xavi (Barcelona / Spain) - 7.92%

User 'makimaki' said:

"Messi is pure magic on the pitch and a great example off it as well. His feet are one with the ball - the touch and style makes everything seem as it's the most easy and natural thing to do. I hope his skills will be recognised with the award. If not this year then in the future. He's a true gentleman... Ronaldo is the most obvious choice though. Even though he didn't shine at the Euros, his performances for Man Utd were worth acknowledgement. Until the Olympic football competition is open to all players, I rate the CL higher. This also adds to Ronaldo's favour compared with Messi (I see him as the main competitor). However if Ronaldo wins, he'll be the first player from an English based club to be honoured the award. I have a feeling this will also be considered by the jury. I think it's fair to say, that the EPL is the strongest league, and not even when Man Utd won the treble in 99 were they rewarded."

Meanwhile 'téchnicál_páçé' added:

"Not a fan of the guy but CR7 was undoubtedly the best player in the world in '08. Ronaldo fully deserves all the player of the year awards - nobody could compare to his stats last season ---> 42 Goals + EPL and UCL = enough said. Anybody who says otherwise doesn't understand football - It's not about who your favourite player is but about who was the best player was over the course of last season. Messi has more talent than CR7 in my opinion - he is the player I prefer to watch out of the 2. Give him the ball and he is a Ferrari but until he leads Barca to trophies (like Dihno did) than he still just a ultra talented player. However one cannot forget that he was instrumental in the Argies' Olympic gold in Beijing. Casillas was also amazing in both the PL and the Euros. Xavi and Kaka? Great players with unbelievable talent but wtf??!! Ok, Xavi had 2 good weeks in the Euro but what about the rest of the season? As for Kaka, what exactly did he achieve last season?"