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Brazilian, Marta and Argentinian, Lionel Messi - World Player of the Year - Female and Male

Lionel Messi became the first Argentine to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award on Monday. He was presented with the trophy at a glittering awards gala in Zurich.

European Footballer of the Year

The 22-year-old forward, who also landed the European Footballer of the Year prize earlier this month, picked up the accolade after collecting four major titles with Barcelona – the Champions League, the Club World Cup, La Liga and the King’s Cup

Champions League Final

Lionel Messi, who headed the clinching goal against Manchester United in the Champions League final, also scored on Saturday to secure the FIFA Club World Cup for Barcelona against Estudiantes.

The Argentine, who joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old in 2000, claimed 1,073 points in a poll of 147 national team coaches and captains.

Messi beat last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo, his two Barcelona clubmates Andres Iniesta and Xavi and Brazil midfielder Kaka.

FIFA/FIFPro World XI

Meanwhile, Messi’s team-mates Daniel Alves, Xavi and Iniesta were among those named in the FIFA/FIFPro World XI.
The XI, voted for by members of the international professional footballers’ union – FIFPro chosen by over 50,000 professional football players from all over the world, voting for the best player in each position, were: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd), Patrice Evra (Man Utd), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Fernando Torres (Liverpool).

Ronaldo – Best Goal for 2008/2009 Season

Ronaldo won the FIFA Puskas award for the best goal of the 2008/09 season – Real Madrid’s Portuguese idol. Cristiano’s award-winning strike, which came when he was on duty for Manchester United in last season’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinal tie against Porto, came out on top in a poll attracting the votes of over 100,000 FIFA.com users.

Fair Play Award – Sir Bobby

The FIFA Fair Play Award was given posthumously to Sir Bobby Robson for his “outstanding commitment to the values of fair play throughout his career.’’ The award was collected by his widow Elsie.

Marta – FIFA Women’s World Player 2009

Brazil’s Marta, who scooped up the awards for the best female player of the year for the fourth year running.

Source: fifa.com

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The Absa Premiership League is more competitive this year than it has ever been, with interesting developments every week. Football 365.co.za took a look at all this weekend’s matches.

Celtic's Nigerian Striker, Prince Olomu

Bloemfontein Celtic 4  Ajax Cape Town 2

A princely 86th minute goal from Nigerian striker Prince Olomu paved the way for Bloemfontein Celtic’s rousing 4-2 Premier League win over Ajax Cape Town at a sun-scorched Seisa Ramabodu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

AmaZulu 0  Jomo Cosmos 0

The Premiership relegation battle between struggling AmaZulu and bottom-of-the-log Jomo Cosmos fizzled into a damp squib at a wet Moses Mabhida Stadium with neither side managing to score in a dull 90 minutes.

Bidvest Wits 2  Golden Arrows 1

Goals by Sifiso Myeni and Mark Haskins sunk Golden Arrows and bought Wits their first win in 15 games on Saturday night.  Wits won 2-1 with Myeni netting the opener from the spot in the 25th minute thanks largely to new signing Sifiso Vilakazi. The former Ajax Cape Town hitman earned the penalty following an adjudged foul by Msekeli Mvalo.

SuperSport United 3  Mpumalanga Black Aces 0

SuperSport United maintained their six-point lead at the top of the PSL standings with 3-0 win against Mpumalanga Black Aces at Loftus on Saturday evening.

Sundowns 2 Kaizer Chiefs 1

A late goal from Siyanda Xulu was enough to give Mamelodi Sundowns three crucial points as they beat Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Santos 0  Orlando Pirates 0

Orlando Pirates were once again held to a goalless draw, this time against Santos, who also slipped further away from the title race at Athlone Stadium on Friday night.

Absa Premier Soccer League Standings

Supersport still tops the table after this weekend with 47 points followed by Sundowns at 41 and Santos at 39 (Sundowns and Santos have only played 22 games – one less than the log leaders).  Kaizer Chiefs is next with 38 points from 23 games with Orlando Pirates on their heels with 37 from 24. Right up behind the leaders are Bloemfontein Celtic and Ajax Cape town – both on 34 points from 24 games.

See the Premier Soccer League Standings

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Action is heating up in the PSL and the matches being played around South Africa this weekend will certainly make a difference for some of the teams who are on the brink of either moving up to become contenders, or who are losing the plot and dropping way down in the standings.

Kaizer Chiefs will wear their new 40th Anniversary Kit for the first time tonight when they host Celtic.

Kaizer Chiefs v Bloemfontein Celtic

Kaizer Chiefs will be sporting their 40th Anniversary kit when they tackle Bloemfontein Celtic at the Super Stadium on Saturday night.

After a poor start to the Season Amakhosi have consistently been picking up speed and hope to make this encounter with Bloemfontein Celtic four on the trot which could see the team move up to second in the PSL standings.

Santos v Lamontville Golden Arrows

Santos have the chance to close the gap on SuperSport United when they entertain Golden Arrows at the Coetzenburg Stadium on Saturday night.

The People’s Team are seven points behind Matsatsantsa and will be looking to their home matches as a source for the points to catch them.

Abafana Bes’thende head have struggled of late and will look to put their slump behind them when they travel to the Western Cape.

Arrows currently find themselves ninth in the standings, and they head into the match against title-hopefuls Santos on the back of a defeat at the hands of fellow strugglers Free State Stars.

SuperSport United v Jomo Cosmos

SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt is refusing to underestimate Jomo Cosmos when they entertain them at Loftus Versfeld Saturday night.

United currently sit seven points clear at the top, and the team will be looking to Anthony Laffor to continue his fine form following the midfielder’s second brace of the season in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Moroka Swallows.

Jomo Sono’s charges are currently rock bottom of the PSL standings with the defending champions sitting pretty seven points clear at the top of the standings.

Hunt will have a fully fit squad to choose from and will welcome back midfielder Jabu Maluleke, who returns from suspension.

Free State Stars v Mpumalanga Black Aces

Mpumalanga Black Aces will be hoping that the addition of new striker Darrel Smith will inspire them to victory over Free State Stars at Goble Park at the weekend.

The Mpumalanga outfit are currently second-from-bottom in the PSL standings, but a win on Saturday will see them leapfrog Stars in the table.

AmaZulu v Mamelodi Sundowns

Mamelodi Sundowns will be looking to keep the pressure on SuperSport United with a win over AmaZulu at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The Brazilians are currently in fifth position after their 1-0 win against Bidvest Wits, nine points behind log leaders SuperSport United.

Maritzburg United v Ajax Cape Town

Ajax Cape Town will be looking to affirm their place in the top four of the league when they take on a confident Maritzburg United side at Woodburn Stadium.

The Urban Warriors go into the match on the back of a 0-0 draw against AmaZulu but they will be buoyed by the possibility that a win might move them from fourth to second of the league.

Bidvest Wits v Moroka Swallows

BidVest Wits’ run of 12 matches without a win can no longer be descried as a slump. Roger de Sa’s men face a crisis and must attain a result against Moroka Swallows on Saturday.

The Clever Boys’ atrocious form has seen them free fall down the table and they now lie 14th, just two points clear of second-from-bottom Mpumalanga Black Aces.

Both sides find themselves in the bottom-half of the standings.

Platinum Stars v Orlando Pirates

Platinum Stars coach Steve Komphela is hoping his side will be on the right end of some well-deserved luck on Saturday when Orlando Pirates are the visitors to the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.

The former Bafana Bafana captain is gaining a reputation for his outbursts against referees. It was his great misfortune therefore when, he was forced to watch as his side went down 3-1 to Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday due in large part to a dubious penalty decision. Wednesday night’s result was the second time this season against Amakhosi that Komphela could rightly feel aggrieved.

The Buccaneers will be looking for their first away win in over three months when they travel to Platinum Stars for Saturday’s PSL clash in Rustenburg.

Sources and pics: www.football365.co.za and www.soccerladuma.co.za

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To celebrate their 40 Anniversary, Kaizer Chiefs are teaming up with Nike to launch of the club’s 40th Anniversary Special Edition team kit at a celebratory event at Carlton Centre today (Thursday, 10 December from 13:00) in Johannesburg.

Kaizer Chiefs 3 – Platinum Stars 1

Amakhosi will be in a very positive mood at the launch of their new kit after Wednesday night’s goalfest against Platinum Stars at Loftus, which made it nine goals in three matches for the Glamour Boys.

The win moved Amakhosi into third place on goal difference in the ABSA Premiership standings and was the fifth time in six outings that they have picked up maximum points.

Amakhosi Double over Platinum Stars

Wednesday was the first time that Chiefs had completed the double over Platinum Stars having won the first encounter this season

So Kaizer Chiefs go into Saturday’s clash with Bloemfontein Celtic knowing another three points will make them genuine challengers for the title.

Picture: Amakhosi Supporters – soccerladuma.co.za

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Well we know how the Final Draw turned out – terrible for South Africa but here are the groups for the 2010 World Cup, in case anyone doesn’t know yet. And the Official Match Schedule.

France and Uruguay are two former World Cup winners and Mexico is known as a very strong team, but South Africa will have to rely on the wide experience of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and the passion and skill of Bafana Bafana if we want to avoid the humiliation of becoming the first host team in World Cup history to get knocked out in the first round.

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana,
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

South Africa’s Matches

11 June 2010 4.00 pm South Africa v Mexico at Soccer City, Johannesburg
16 June 2010 8.30 pm South Africa v Uruguay at Loftus Versveld, Pretoria
26 June 2010 4.00 pm South Africa v France at Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
26 June 2010 4.00 pm Winner Group A v Runner Up Group B at Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth
27 June 2010 8.30 pm Runner up Group A v Winner Group B at Soccer City, Johannesburg

Matches at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban

Sunday  13 June Group D Germany v Australia
Wednesday 16 June Group H Spain v Switzerland
Saturday 19 June Group E Netherlands v Japan
Tuesday 22 June Group B Nigeria v South Korea
Friday 25 June Group G Portugal v Brazil
Monday 28 June Round of 16 Winner Group E v Runner Up Group F
Wednesday 7 July Semi Final Winner Quarter Final B v Quarter Final D

Official Match Schedule of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

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