Brazilian national legend Pele is to receive an special achievement award at today’s Ballon D’or awards ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland, according to esporte.ig.com.br.
The three-time World Cup winner, now 73, is to be recognised for his colossal contribution to football during the event which names the best player, coach and team in the world for the previous year.
Pele himself let the information slip, saying :”FIFA decided to honour the only player who has won hree World Cups. Guess they would have to give me at least three to compensate.”
The great man has tipped Cristiano Ronaldo to claim this year’s main prize; he also won it in 2008. The last four awards have been dominated by the Argentinian maestro Lionel Messi who, although on the shortlist with Ronaldo and Franck Ribery, is thought to be an outside bet for the title.
Should Ronaldo fulfil Pele’s prediction, it would cap a glorious personal twelve months whereby he single-handedly got Portugal to the World Cup in a dramatic play-off against Sweden and scored over a goal per game for Real Madrid.
