The German Football Association(DFB) has revealed that national team coach Joachim Low has refused to cast his vote for the BallonAi?? Dai??i??or. The event, which requires international team captains and coaches as well as respected Journalists from around the world to shortlist three players from the list of nominees, publicly releases the votes cast by the various people and thus the Die Manschaft boss has opted out of the procedure to avoid causing potential disharmony as his five of his players( Mesut Ozil, BastianAi?? Schwiensteiger, Phillip Lahm, Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller) are among the shortlisted candidates for the coveted trophy.
In a press release, DFB spokesperson Jens Gritter said –
ai???He is not able to vote in an impartial manner and therefore has decided to abstain.ai???
ai???On the one hand, it is an honour for German football to have five candidates among the [23-man] shortlist. But as Fifa publishes the votes, that is something which puts the coach in a predicament.”
Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Phillip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger are all fresh from an historic season with Bayern Munich whereas Mesut Ozil continues to revel in his big money move to Arsenal.
Among the nominees, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Ribery and Lionel Messi are widely tipped to fight it out in a three way battle to decide the ultimate winner of the much coveted trophy.
In other news, Brazilian legend Ronaldo has tipped Lionel Messi to win the Ballon D’or for the fifth time running. The Argentine hitman has been ruled out for the remainder of 2013 due to a thigh injury and has subsequently fallen behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Ribery to win the coveted title but the ex-Barcelona striker believes that Messi has already done enough to win the award once again. Speaking exclusively to Spanish daily Marca, Ronaldo suggested that the current Barclona #10 will come back even stronger from his current setback –
“Messi has spent the last five years playing so many matches and he is the biggest star in world football. Now, this injury isn’t serious, but maybe resting will allow him to recharge his batteries.”
Ronaldo has himself won the award twice in 1997 and 2002.
The results of the FIFA Ballon D’Or will be announced on the 14th of January at the FIFA Headquarters in Munich.
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