WHO IS THE WORLD’S BEST- ‘RONALDO OR MESSI’?

Over the years, El Classico has been the climax of la Liga games, where the two renowned Spanish giants go head to head in a battle for supremacy. This exclusive match attracts millions of fans all over the world and leaves the streets of Spain empty. In this match hormone levels are heightened amongst the dramas and actions of the game, amongst the tension and fright of watching fans. It draws the concentration of football loving nations to the center of Spain whether Madrid or Barcelona. The catalian giants known as Barcelona have Lionel Messi as their hero while Real Madrid has Cristiano Ronaldo as their talisman. These both players are blessed with great talents, talents that amaze the world at large.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who started his international career as of 2003 in a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan national team, he scored his first international goal against Greece in 2004, a match which Portugal lost 2-1. Ever since then, he has shown the world how exceptional his talents are, breaking records and setting new records. He won the Portuguese league with sporting Lisbon before moving over to the English premier league joining Manchester united in 2005, there in the English premier league he won three consecutive premier league titles between 2006-2009 and a champions league in 2008 amidst other trophies in other competitions as well as the golden boot for being the highest goal scorer of the season with 42 goals, and in the same 2008 he was named the world best player and recorded the only premier league player to win the Ballon d’Or and the second Portuguese player after Luis Figo to win this award.

In 2009 he was awarded the Puskas award by FIFA, an award given for the best goal of the year, for his 40 yards winning goal for Manchester United to excel them to the semi-finals of the champions league in 2008. He moved to Spanish La Liga joining Real Madrid in a record signing of £80 million(€93.3million) being the most expensive player ever sold in world football also giving Manchester United a record as the highest earning club as of that same year. There in the Spanish La Liga, under the management of manager Jose Mourinho the ‘special one’ or the ‘only one’ as he is fondly called, won the Copa del Rey in 2010/11 season with a European golden boot award being the only player to win this award with two different clubs, he broke Zarra’s record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored every 70.7minutes, he won the Trofeo Alfredo Di Stefano as the best La Liga player of the season in this same year. He won the Spanish La Liga in 2011/12 season and as well recorded the first real Madrid player to score for the fourth game in a row at the camp Nou, his goal against real Mallorca being the last match of the 2011/12 campaign saw him recorded as the first player to have scored against every team in a single season in La Liga. In 2011/12 season he was awarded a centurion cap for his country to mark his 100^th international appearance and still being the 3^rd youngest player to receive such honor after Lukas Podolski of Germany and Estonia’s Kristen Vickmae. 11 more international goals will see Cristiano Ronaldo surpass pauleta as Portuguese all time highest goal scorer and 28 more caps to beat the appearance record set by Luis Figo, he is the only player to score in 5 consecutive La Liga games.            

On the other hand, Lionel Messi the ‘lion of the tribe of Argentina’ as fondly called had the world at his feet from onset, he had medical issues as a child which Barcelona accommodated and helped him recover and because of this he is entitled to the club for their generosity. Besides that, he is a fruit of the Barcelona academy which has groomed so many world talents like Carlos Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and so on. All through his career he has been exceptional and shown extra difference between world class and world class. In 2005, he took Argentina to glory in the under-20 world cup and was named the best player of the tournament seconded by Nigerian’s John Obi Mikel, in 2004/05 he won the La Liga with Barcelona, in 2005/06 he won the champions league, Spanish La Liga, and Copa del Rey with Barcelona, in 2006/07 he won the Copa del Rey with Barcelona, he also was among the Argentine team that were runners up in Copa America of that same year, in 2008/09 he was among the Barcelona team that won the treble ‘the champions league, Spanish La Liga, and Copa del Rey, in that same year he won the 2008 Olympic gold medal with Argentina, in 2009/10 he won the Spanish La Liga with Barcelona, and in 2010/11 he was in the Barcelona team that won a double ‘champions league and Spanish La liga’, in 2011/12 he won the Copa del Rey with Barcelona. Amidst these trophies he has also made personal names for himself; he was awarded in 2005’s under-20 world cup ‘the most valuable player and top scorer’, player of the year of Argentina: 2005 and 2007, Copa America young player of the tournament 2007, he has won the world best player in three consecutive seasons 2009, 2010, 2011and setting the record as the only player to achieve such honor three consecutive times in a roll. He won the bravo award in 2007, best Ibero-American player in La Liga 2006-2008, FIFpro world young player of the year 2006, 2007, 2008, FIFpro special young player of the year 2007 and 2008, world soccer young player of the year 2006, 2007, and 2008. He made the FIFpro world IX 2006-07, 2007-08, UEFA team of the year and FIFA team of the year 2008.       

In conclusion, it is an obvious fact that these two exceptional talents are way ahead of the rest of the pack (other superstars), their skill, tenacity, records and achievement speaks for them but it is a very difficult decision to make when it comes to who is the best. Come to think of it these two score goals, the both are good spot kick takers, they have pace, Ronaldo plays with both foot, Ronaldo scores with his head, Messi can run in between a group of players, he can score unimaginable goals, Ronaldo can be a bit defensive when it comes to team play and so on. All these are unique attributes of these great players but when you let their past glories cloud your judgment it makes it difficult to choose. I feel it is best to choose who is best based on their performance in a certain season and with that it makes everyone to go home happy, because in as much as they are both good but every season one has to be better than the other.

a friend of mine made this quote ‘ Messi is an alien while Ronaldo is a resistance’ for movie fans that love the movie terminator.

SOCCER THE MOST ENTERTAINING OF SPORTS

In world sports, it is an undisputable fact that soccer is superior to other sports in terms of popularity and entertainment. There is no comparison between this sport and others. It draws out fans from all corners of the world, making them sacrifice their works and studies for this sport they love so much, it makes some to lose opportunities but still they are not moved because they feel happy watching their most favorite stars or their most favorite team play.

In this lovely and highly entertaining sports, there are many leagues and trophies to be won; there is the champions league; the league of champions of various top leagues, premier league which is the most entertaining of them, the Spanish la liga which has two of the best clubs in the world and an El classico that draws the world’s attention to a spot, the Italian seria-A that has one of the most deadliest derbies in the world, the French league, the Scottish league, bundesliga, dutch league, portugese league and other leagues numerous to be mentioned.

These leagues mentioned above are the eye catching leagues in world football apart from the Euro competition and world cups, and for several years they have been very delighting and entertaining to watch. Most of these football clubs, which take part in these leagues, have famous and renowned footballers that show their amazing talents day in day out for their clubs. If you talk about the names of those clubs then you will get to know about Manchester United, Barcelona, Paris st. German, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Porto, Ac Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City, Liverpool and the list goes on and on. This year, the excitement in this sport is at the top level, as the premier league turns 20years, and there are a lot of big money transfers for various top clubs like Paris St. German, Zenit St. Petersburg, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and so on.

On the side of international games like; world cups, world club tournament, Euro tournament, Olympic football tournaments, and so on. The governing body that has been responsible for the organization and maintenance of good conduct in these tournaments for over a hundred years or so is FIFA ‘Federation Internationale de football Association which was formed in 1904, in Paris, France.

This governing body was formed to organize international games and over the years it seems they have gotten all their strategies right, because there have been a dramatic increase of interest in world football and to be sincere ever since then the increase In the games popularity has been a normal sporting phenomenon. Every four years the world cup is been hosted by a certain country and out of all the participating countries one must turn out the champion, showing how exceptional and determined they have played over the tournament. Testimonies that have always arisen states that the hosting country seems to be the center of attraction for the whole world as far as sport loving persons are concerned.

THE BACLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE AT 20

Barclays premier league is an English professional league made up of an association of clubs, it is a competition contested by 20 clubs where there is promotion and relegation. This competition is currently sponsored by the Barclays bank and because of that the competition is called BACLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE. But commonly known outside England as the “THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (EPL)”. The 20 clubs qualified to contest in this league act as shareholders, each of the clubs play a total of 38 matches which sums up to 380 matches a season. These matches are mostly played at weekends but some are played at weekdays, the season runs from August to may every season.

The English premier league was first formed as the FA PREMIER LEAGUE on 20 of February 1992 following the decision of the clubs in the first division of the football league to break away league which was originally found in1888. On doing this they took advantage of a lucrative television right deal that will worth £3 billion as of 2013-2014, with two prominent television broadcasters; BskyB (broadcasting 116) and Btgroups (broadcasting 38) games respectively. The EPL being able to be broadcasted in almost 212 territories to 643million homes makes it the most watched football league in the world.      

Ever since the invention of English Football league in 1888, 23 clubs have been crowned champions and as of 1992 when the premier league was formed, 45 clubs have competed in it and 5 clubs (Manchester United (12 titles), Arsenal (3 titles), Chelsea (3 titles), Blackburn Rovers (crowned once), and Manchester City (crowned once)) have been crowned champions.

It might interest you to know that before the intervention of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) in 1995, ‘The Barclays Premier league’ generally known as English premier league was once played by more than 20 clubs were 2 clubs are promoted and 4 relegated each season. By 8, of June 2006, FIFA gave order that all major leagues, Seria A, La liga inclusive should be reduced to 18 teams but the English FA objected to such request and kicked off the 2007-08 season with 20teams. Still in 2007-08 season its name was changed from FA premier league to simply ‘Premier League’

PROMINENT SPONSORS OF THE BACLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

Barclay – the official premier league sponsor

Carling – the official carling cup sponsor

Nike -  the official sponsor/supplier of balls

CELEBRATING THE 20^TH SUCCESSFUL YEAR OF THE BACLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

AWARDS OF THE 20^TH SEASON:

The 20^th year premier league team: : Peter Schmeichel (GK), Gary Neville(RB), Tony Adams (CB), Rio Ferdinand (CB), Ashley Cole (LB), Cristiano Ronaldo (R.WIING/FWD), Roy Keane (DM), Paul Scholes (CM), Ryan Giggs (LM), Thierry Henry (FWD), Alan Shearer (FWD).

AWARD OF THE BEST MANAGER:

SIR ALEX FERGUSON

BEST PLAYER: RYAN GIGGS BEST TEAM: ARSENAL 2003/04 TEAM.

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 GLORY MOMENTS IN THE 20YEARS OF PREMIER LEAGUE EXISTENCE

1992/93

The FA Premier league was formed and 22 teams participated in its first season. Manchester United won the first title of the campaign. The premier league turnover was £46m.

1993/94

Carling became the first title sponsors and the competition was named Carling Premiership.

1994/95

Blackburn Rovers, Kenny Dalglish’s team won their first and ever premier league title on the final day of the competition; Alan Shearer equals Andy Cole's scoring record with 34. This was the last season the premier league competed with 22 teams – four were relegated and two teams came up from the lower League (championship).

1995/96

Manchester United completed the season with a double, and Eric Cantona was named the footballer of the year, still in the same season ManU recorded their biggest ever win in the premier league winning Ipswich by 9 goals to nothing. Alan Shearer recorded 31 goals in 38-matches of the season.

1996/97

Manchester United won their fourth Premier League trophy. Arsenal appoints Arsene Wenger as manager. He Arsene was barely known as at then.

1997/98

Arsenal wins the Premier League with a point above Manchester United, overhauling an 11-point lead in the process. Arsene Wenger became the first foreign manager to win the premier league. Arsenal became the fifth team in the 20th century to win the League and FA Cup double.

1998/99

The Premier League sets up an Academy system. Manchester United secures a 'treble' the (premier league, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League). Three England teams qualify for the UEFA Champions League place. The turnover of the premier league rises to £281m.

1999/2000

Manchester United wins the Premier League by a record 18 points. Kevin Phillips (Sunderland) became the third player to score 30 goals or more in one season.

2000/01

Manchester United wins yet again another premier league title and Sir Alex Ferguson became the first manager to win the English titles three times in a row. Ledley King scores the fastest goal in Premier League history (10 seconds). Four English teams qualify for the UEFA Champions League spot.

2001/02

Barclaycard comes in to become the league Title new Sponsor. Arsenal wins a League and FA Cup double and score in every Premier League game. The Premier League turnover rises to £570m.

2002/03

Manchester United wins their 8^th League title. Goes on an 18 matches unbeaten run from boxing day.

2003/04

Asia Trophy that took place in Malaysia becomes the first biennial pre-season. Arsenal nicknamed ‘The Invincibles’ going a whole season unbeaten. Thierry Henry became the fourth player to score 30 goals in a Premier League season. Chelsea has a new owner: Roman Abramovich.

2004/05

Barclays become the new Title Sponsor for the League. Jose Mourinho appointed as manager of Chelsea from Porto. Jose wins Chelsea’s first top flight title in 50 years with (29) wins and (15) conceded goals in a season. Goalkeeper Petr Cech keeps a 24 clean sheets record.

2005/06

Chelsea retains the Premier League title with (29) wins. Alan Shearer retires, having scored a record 260 goals. Arsenal leave Highbury for the Emirates Stadium and their striker Thierry Henry wins the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award for a record third time.

2006/07

Manchester United became the third different Club to win the League in four seasons. Fulham's Moritz Volz scores the 15,000th Premier League goal. The Premier League attendance record is set when 76,098 watch Manchester United v Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford on 31 March 2007.

2007/08

The Premiership is given a new name “Barclays Premier League”. The first all-English UEFA Champions League final takes place as Manchester United defeat Chelsea and the Premier League tops the UEFA Club Co-efficient for the first time. Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo was the top scorer with 31 goals - in just 31 Premier League starts – tying Alan Shearer’s record for a 38-match season.

2008/09

Manchester United won their 11th Premier League and equal Liverpool's record of 18 top-flight titles. Premier League turnover rises to £1.005bn, with £136m going to external good causes and solidarity payments.

2009/10

Carlos Ancelotti leads Chelsea to win the Premier League once again reclaiming the title from Manchester United, with his side scoring 103 goals – a new Premier League record – and winning The FA Cup.

2010/11

Manchester United wins their 12th Premier League title and 19th overall. A new record of 1,063 goals scored. Premier League turnover rises to £1.202bn, with more than £165m distributed outside of the League in solidarity, good causes and grassroots funding.

2011/12

Last day drama happens on City ground as the big spender club wins the premier league for the first time with a sensational final strike from Sergio Aguero securing Manchester City’s first ever Premier League title in a dramatic 3-2 victory over QPR as Manchester United finished second on goal difference. Chelsea lifts the UEFA Champions League trophy for the first time, ensuring that England was top of the UEFA League coefficient for the fifth season in a row. Aston Villa midfielder Marc Albrighton scored the 20,000th Premier League goal against Arsenal in December. The 2011/12 season was voted the best one yet in the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards, with the league title, Champions League qualification places and relegation all decided on the final day.

THE FIRST AND THE FORE-MOST IN FOOTBALL

Ø 

  The first man to introduce football, then known as Rubber ball was Charles Goodie in 1855.

Ø  The first international football match was between England and Scotland on the 10^th of November, 1858.

Ø  The first international referee was Charles William in the game between England and Scotland. He is also the first FIFA secretary.

Ø  The first competitive domestic football match was played on the 20^th of July, 1871, an FA cup match between Nottingham forest and Preston United.

Ø  The first competitive trophy winners are Bolton Wanderers, FA cup in 1871.

Ø  The first Olympic tournament was held and hosted in Panathiakos, Greece in 1896.

Ø  The world cup tournament was introduced by Serani Carlos, from Uruguay in 1930.

Ø  The first world cup match was between France and Mexico on the 13^th of July, 1930.

Ø  The first coach to win the world cup back-to-back was Vitoria Pozo in the years 1934 and 1938.

Ø  The first European tournament known as ‘’THE EUROS’’ was introduced in 1964, the winners were the Soviet Union, presently known as Russia.

Ø  The first African country to feature in a world cup tournament was Egypt.

Ø  The first African Nations cup tournament was in 1957, constituted by Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa.

Ø  The first African Nations cup winners are Ethiopia.

Ø  The first goal scorer in the African Nations cup was Mohammed Al Deba of Egypt.

Ø  The first nations to co-host the nations cup are Nigeria and Ghana in 2000.

Ø  The European tournament, presently known as Champions League was introduced in 1955.

Ø  The first radio-commented football match of a club was Arsenal on the 22^nd of January, 1927. They are also the first club to have their football match televised in 1930, a game between Arsenal and Sheffield United.

Ø  The first FIFA female executive is Lydia Nsekera from Sudan.

Ø  The most capped international football player is Egyptian’s Ahmed Hassan, with 179 caps for his country.

Ø  The first African players to lift a European trophy are Kanu Nwankwo and Finidi George, both played for Ajax AFC of Holland in 1995.

Ø  The most capped player for a particular club in Europe is Ryan Giggs, currently with 905 caps and counting for Manchester United. In second place is Paulo Maldini with 902 caps for Associacione Calcio Milano (AC Milan).

WHO IS THE ONLY GOAL KEEPER TO WIN THE BALON D’OR? FROM WHICH COUNTRY AND WHAT YEAR?                     Who wants to be the lucky First to answer!