Follow the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala

Follow the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala


Zurich provides the setting for the first major football event of the year, the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala, which takes place on Monday 9 January.

The highlight of the star-studded evening will be the unveiling of the second FIFA Ballon d’Or winner, while the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football and Women’s Football will also be named, along with the winner of the FIFA Puskas Award and a clutch of other accolades.

You can follow the whole day from start to finish at FIFA.com. The first item on the packed agenda is a press conference at 14.00, when FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year candidates Marta, Homare Sawa and Abby Wambach will be joined by Bruno Bini, Norio Sasaki and Pia Sundhage, the three nominees for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football award. As well as broadcasting the event live on the site, we will be making sure you do not miss a thing by publishing everything the six candidates have to say.

Following the presentation of the FIFA Interactive Award to the winner of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will take centre stage for their press conference, which kicks off at 15.00 and will also go out live.

At 17.00 it is on to Zurich’s Kongresshaus, where a fan zone will be set up beside the red carpet to give the lucky locals a chance to get the autographs of the players, coaches and celebrities attending the glittering show. Naturally, the FIFA.com team will be there to bring you the views of those present in a series of exclusive interviews, available for you to read on the site.

FIFA.com will also be offering live coverage* of the Gala itself, which gets under way at 19.00. You will find out who wins what just as soon as the awards are announced, and when the show is over we will be talking exclusively to the winners and their fellow nominees. All the interviews will be available for you to read on the site, which will also feature videos and photos of the Gala and the backstage scenes.

So make sure you log on to FIFA.com next Monday and keep up to date with all the events at what promises to be a very special FIFA Ballon d’Or 2011 Gala.

In the meantime you can decide the fate of the FIFA Puskas Award by voting for your goal of 2011, and there is also a chance to win an exclusive signed shirt by playing the FIFA/FIFPro World XI Predictor.

*The Gala will not be broadcast in some countries. A full list of countries where it will not be shown will be published shortly.