Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo predictably wins the best FIFA men’s player 2016

Published Jan. 9, 2017 2:05 p.m. ET

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Aaron West

It's clear: 2016 was Cristiano Ronaldo's year. He won just about every trophy possible last year, leading Portugal to their first ever European Championship, Real Madrid to the Champions League trophy, and he scored goals by the truckload on the way to the silverware.

Ronnie scored 48 goals for club and country in 2016, grabbing three goals for Portugal on their way to the European title, and the match-winning penalty for Madrid as they beat Atletico Madrid in a shootout in the Champions League final.

As such, it was no surprise to hear his name called as the winner of The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016, which was decided by a combined voting process with 50 percent of votes from captains and head coaches from national teams around the globe. The other 50 percent was split between an online public ballot with fans and submissions from a selected group of over 200 journalists around the world.

There really wasn't much of a competition, and Lionel Messi didn't even show up at the awards ceremony to pretend he felt he was in the running. Sure, Barcelona have an important Copa del Rey match on Wednesday, and none of his teammates were in attendance either, but knowing Ronaldo was going to pick up the trophy either way probably played a part in the decision not to make the trip.

Either way, Ronaldo's deserving of his latest accolades, and they just keep rolling in. It's his fourth FIFA POY award (the first in the current format). After Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or last month, his latest honor from FIFA was just as predictable as the rest, and that's just a testament to the year CR7 had.



 

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