ADIDAS GOLDEN BALL AWARD for 2006 FIFA World Cup
The Adidas Golden Ball Award is presented to the most outstanding player of the FIFA World Cup finals.
The ten contenders in 2006 FIFA World Cup for the Golden Ball Award were:
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Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Zinedine Zidane | ----- of FRANCE |
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Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose | ----- of GERMANY |
| Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Gianluca Zambrotta | ----- of ITALY |
| and Maniche | ----- of PORTUGAL |
ZINEDINE ZIDANE AWARDED GOLDEN BALL AWARD
Amongst tough competition, Zinedine Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball Award for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Germany. Fabio Cannavaro was awarded the Silver Ball Award and Andrea Pirlo was awarded the Bronze Ball Award. In the group phases Zidane could not impress his fans. In the Round of 16 against Spain, he came out with a spectacular performance. He played brilliantly to help his team secure a place in the last eight. In the quarter-final match with Brazil, he played brilliantly. Overall, he played a crucial role in taking his team to the last four. In the semi-finals, he helped France defeat Portugal.
In the finals, he scored the first goal of the match. This was also his last World Cup match. Unfortunately, he had a disgraceful exit from football after being shown a red card for head-butting Marco Materazzi in the chest during the extra-time play.
Zinedine Zidane polled 2,012 points in the vote by journalists mostly carried out at half-time of the final match. He beat Italians Fabio Cannavaro (1,977 points) and Andrea Pirlo (715 points) in the ballot.
Italy skipper Fabio Cannavaro was awarded the Adidas Silver Ball Award.
Andrea Pirlo was awarded the Bronze Ball Award, making him the third-best player of the tournament. He also bagged the Budweiser Man of the Match award for a consummate display in the final between Italy and France.
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