Thabani always says that it’s so unfortunate that Cristiano Ronaldo(Portugal) is such a brilliant player and is worthy of the title of Footballer of the year but unfortunately as long as Lionel Messi (Argentina) is around, he will always come second.This has been proven to be true once again as Messi took the title of Footballer of the year for 2011 and Ronaldo came Second and Xavi (Spain) was third. I have included the list of the winners from the last 10 years and it is quite interesting. I was surprised to see that Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)won in 2006 over Zinedine Zidane (France), that must have been a fluke. I also used to love Ronaldinho (Brazil), I have always hoped that he would get back into top form again and dazzle us with his brilliance, alas *sigh*

2011

1st Lionel Messi Argentina
2nd Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal
3rd Xavi Spain

2010

1st Lionel Messi Argentina
2nd Anders Iniesta Spain
3rd Xavi Spain

2009

1st Lionel Messi Argentina
2nd Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal
3rd Xavi Spain

2008
1st Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal
2nd Lionel Messi Argentina
3rd Fernando Torres Spain
2007
1st Kaká Brazil
2nd Lionel Messi Argentina
3rd Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal
2006
1st Fabio Cannavaro Italy
2nd Zinedine Zidane France
3rd Ronaldinho Brazil
2005
1st Ronaldinho Brazil
2nd Frank Lampard England
3rd Samuel Eto’o Cameroon
2004
1st Ronaldinho Brazil
2nd Thierry Henry France
3rd Andriy Shevchenko Ukraine
2003
1st Zinedine Zidane France
2nd Thierry Henry France
3rd Ronaldo Brazil
2002
1st Ronaldo Brazil
2nd Oliver Kahn Germany
3rd Zinedine Zidane France
2001
1st Luís Figo Portugal
2nd David Beckham England
3rd Raúl Spain

Ronaldinho’s brilliance, yessess this guy!!