Ronaldo eyes further glory at FIFA awards

By Mark Ledsom

ZURICH (Reuters) - Manchester United's Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo is widely expected to add to his impressive haul of titles on Monday when he takes on four other nominees vying for the 2008 FIFA World Player award.

Spanish Euro 2008 winners Xavi Hernandez and Fernando Torres are also strong contenders, however, with the national team coaches and captains who vote on the award having sometimes favoured international achievements over those at club level.

Barcelona winger Lionel Messi, an Olympic gold medallist with Argentina at the 2008 Beijing Games and last year's award winner, Brazilian midfielder Kaka, complete the top five.

Kaka's inclusion this time around has raised more than a few eyebrows after what was a relatively disappointing year blighted by injuries for the AC Milan playmaker.

The Brazilian already appears to have discounted his chances this year -- along with those of Messi, Xavi and Torres -- by saying that Ronaldo was the right man to pick up December's virtually identical Ballon d'Or award.

That award, voted upon by football journalists, concentrates on the best European-based players but since FIFA has invariably chosen to shortlist players from European clubs for their own version the two titles have become hard to distinguish.

Indeed, for the past three years the Ballon d'Or winner has also gone on to pick up the FIFA version.

Ronaldo's individual skills and extraordinary goal-rate combined with his club's achievements in 2008, certainly make it hard to imagine that trend being bucked on Monday.