Ronaldo poised to land the Ballon d'Or as FIFA extend voting period

Ronaldo poised to land the Ballon d'Or as FIFA extend voting period

Cristiano Ronaldo has emerged as the favourite to win FIFA's prestigious Ballon d'Or award over rival Lionel Messi following the surprise decision to extend the voting deadline.
But it is understood that Ronaldo, who enhanced his case with his superb hat-trick in Portugal's World Cup play-off win over Sweden on Tuesday night, could boycott the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Zurich on January 13 in protest at comments by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The FIFA chief claimed the Real Madrid star 'spends more time at the hairdresser' when asked to compare him with Messi, though the FIFA chief did later apologise.
The move to put the voting deadline back to Novmber 29 and allow previous votes to be recast has been taken as a result of a 'low turnout of votes'.

Matchwinner: Cristiano Ronaldo netted a hat-trick against Sweden to secure Portugal's passage to Brazil

The contenders: Barcelona's prolific forward Lionel Messi (left) has four Ballon d'Or trophies to his name and Franck Ribery (right) was pitted as favourite after winning the Treble with German giants Bayern Munich

WHO CAN VOTE FOR THE GONG?

FIFA Football Committee and a group of experts from France Football drew up a 23-man shortlist which was announced on October 29.
The award winner is then decided by three groups of voters. The first two are made up of coaches and captains of national teams and the third category is by selected members of the media and press. The only prevailing rule is that players cannot vote for themselves. 

Ronaldo rose to the occasion in Stockholm on Tuesday night to send Portugal to Brazil and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden packing.
The Real Madrid star scored a sublime second-half hat-trick in his side's 3-2 win.
Ronaldos's Barcelona rivals Messi has won the trophy for the past four seasons, and had another stellar 2012/13, but it was the Treble-winning Franck Ribery who was favourite for the gong until Ronaldo's display against Sweden.
Ronaldo, who has scored three hat-tricks in the past month (two for Real Madrid and one for his country) is now in line to collect his second Ballon d'Or at the January ceremony.

GOAL! SAMBA! RONALDO! The best commentary you'll ever hear

Fallen hero: Zlatan Ibrahimovic's two goals were not enough to see off the threat of Ronaldo and Portugal

THE FULL 23-MAN LIST

Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid) Edinson Cavani (Uruguay/PSG) Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid) Radamel Falcao (Colombia/Monaco) Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/PSG) Andres Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona) Philipp Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich) Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Dortmund) Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona) Thomas Muller (Germany/Bayern Munich) Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich) Neymar (Brazil/Barcelona) Mesut Ozil (Germany/Arsenal) Andrea Pirlo (Italy/Juventus) Franck Ribery (France/Bayern Munich) Arjen Robben (Holland/Bayern Munich) Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany/Bayern Munich) Luis Suarez (Uruguay/Liverpool) Thiago Silva (Brazil/PSG) Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast/Manchester City) Robin van Persie (Holland/Manchester United) Xavi (Spain/Barcelona)

Meanwhile, Thiago Silva was left red-faced when the Brazil captain made a hash of his Ballon d'Or voting.
The Paris Saint-Germain centre back was clearly under the impression that he was unable to vote for his countryman Neymar, despite the only rule for voting is that you can not vote for yourself.
In a wide-ranging interview with Globoesporte, Silva discussed his frustration at being unable to vote for his international team-mate.
He also believes he should come in second place to Barcelona's marquee summer signing and poster boy for the World Cup.
'It was a pity that I could not vote for Brazilians,' Silva was quoted as saying. 
'Neymar would be first and I would have put myself second. Instead, I voted for Messi as first, second Ibra due to all the goals he has scored, and Cristiano Ronaldo in third.
'He did not win any titles last year. They are all great players and any one of them could be there as the winner.'
Silva may be one of the first to revise his vote on Wednesday then.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Portugal is a better team than Sweden

Prolific: Radamel Falcao is an outsider for the award after his free-scoring displays for club and country

Playmaker: Mesut Ozil

Defender: Philipp Lahm

Maestro: Bastian Schweinsteiger

Premier League contingent: Manchester City's Yaya Toure (left) and United's Robin van Persie (right)

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