Cristiano Ronaldo could boycott Ballon d'Or awards following verbal spat with Fifa president Sepp Blatter
Portugal forward is favourite to be world footballer of the year but has done
little to quell speculation that he will stay away from Zurich
could humiliate Fifa president Sepp Blatter by boycotting
the Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich in January, despite the surprise decision
to extend the voting deadline for the award.
Ronaldo has emerged as favourite to be crowned the 2013 world footballer of
the year with Fifa’s Ballon d’Or voting extension coinciding with the Real
Madrid forward’s stunning hat-trick in Portugal’s
World Cup play-off win against Sweden
on Tuesday.
The move by Fifa to put the voting deadline back to Nov 29 and allow previous
votes to be recast has been taken as a result of a “low turnout of votes”
from international coaches, captains and representatives of the
international media.
It is understood, however, that Ronaldo is considering snubbing the
presentation ceremony on Jan 13 in protest at perceived bias towards
three-time winner Lionel
Messi and recent comments by Blatter, who claimed that Ronaldo
“spends more time at the hairdresser” when asked to compare the two players.
Blatter subsequently apologised for the comments, prompting a lukewarm
acknowledgement of his contrition from Ronaldo, but the Portugal captain has
done little to quell speculation in Madrid and his home nation that he will
stay away from Zurich, even if he is announced next month as being on the
three-man shortlist to win the award.
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