Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy for 2008, polling 446 points from a maximum of 480, to oust his closest rivals, Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres into 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
The Portugese winger scored an incredible 42 goals as Manchester United won the Champions League and Premier League double last season. Despite a less than spectacular performance at Euro 2008, the world's football journalists had no hesitation voting him for the most prestigious individual award in world football, awarded by France Football magazine.
"It is one of the most beautiful days of my life, something I dreamed of as a child," said the 23-year-old winger.
Ronaldo becomes only the third Portuguese player to lift the famous trophy - after Eusebio and Luis Figo - and the fourth Manchester United player to take the prestigious gong. He is the first Premier League player since Michael Owen in 2001 to scoop the award.
AC Milan's Brazilian playmaker, Kaka, has won the prestigious Ballon D'Or as European Footballer of the Year for 2007.
The Brazilian, 25, was the Champions League's top scorer last season with 10 goals as he led his team to the title, beating Liverpool in Athens in the final.
"This is very special for me - it culminates an astonishing year for me," Kaka said.
The Ballon D'Or is awarded annually by France Football magazine who poll 96 prominent football journalists for their votes on who they think is that year's best player from a shortlist of 50. In the end, Kaka won by a large margin on 444 points with second placed Cristiano Ronaldo, 22, on 277 points. Barcelona's Lionel Messi came third.
AC Milan goalkeeper Dida has had his two-match suspension reduced by UEFA following an appeal by the club.
The 34-year-old Brazilian was initially banned for two games for his theatrics following a very minor 'altercation' with a Celtic fan that had gone onto the pitch during the 2-1 defeat at Celtic Park.
The initial two-match suspension has now been reduced to just one with a further game suspended for a year.
AC Milan's grounds for appeal were that the keeper's actions was nevertheless a mistake but his error did not hinder anyone, not Celtic, nor any player. The club were also unhappy that Celtic were fined only Ł25,000 which, in their opinion, was lenient compared to the suspension Dida received.
The decision by UEFA to reduce the suspension is an absolute disgrace. The initial two-match suspension was by no means harsh by any standards - some would say that Dida deserved to have been heavily punished for tarnishing the reputation and integrity of the game.
By reducing the length of the suspension, UEFA has effectively condoned the keeper's actions and that any other player thinking of doing the same in the future can expect just a one-match ban.
Who else thinks Celtic should reduce the fan's lifetime banishment from the club's matches now? They might as bloody well!
A star-studded 22-man European squad will face English Premier League leaders Manchester United in a charity match on Tuesday evening (GMT) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the European Union and of Manchester United becoming the first English side to play in UEFA's European club competition.
Liverpool players Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, Barcelona captain Carlos Puyol and many of the Italian World Cup-winning squad will take part in the match as well as three Brazilian stars - Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Juninho - taking part as 'guests'.
Former Manchester United player David Beckham has had to withdraw from the European select-side due to injury, but will return to his old stomping ground to watch the game from the stands.
Retired France legend Zinedine Zidane has turned down the opportunity to take to the pitch for the select-side - whether or not Italian Marco Materazzi's presence in the squad had anything to do with his decision, we do not know.
'Zizou' ended his career with a red card after thrusting his head into Materazzi's chest in the World Cup final of 2006.
The full Europe XI squad are as follows:
Goalkeepers: Oliver Kahn, Grégory Coupet, Iker Casillas. Defenders: Paolo Maldini, Jamie Carragher, Eric Abidal, Lilan Thuram, Carles Puyol, Marco Materazzi, Fabio Grosso. Midfielders: Gianluca Zambrotta, Steven Gerrard, Juninho Pernambucano, Florent Malouda, Luis Miguel, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo. Strikers: Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Alessandro Mancini, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson.
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