Football World Awaits Golden Ball Ceremony

Lionel Messi (L), Franck Ribery (C), and Cristiano Ronaldo (R) will battle for football's most prestigious individual award. Photo by uefa.org

The ceremony for the 2013 Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) will take place on Monday night in Zurich.

The final 3 nominees for football's most prestigious individual award are Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), and Franck Ribery (France).

Messi, who has won the award in the last 4 editions, is facing fierce competition this time. Despite his staggering 46 goals during last season, the Argentine was sidelined several times with injuries, and is not in his best form.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the award in 2008, has kicked off this season in marvelous form, scoring 20 league goals and 9 Champions League goals, in just over 4 months.

Meanwhile, Ribery was instrumental in leading Bayern Munich to a treble-title in the past season. He has also starred for France, playing a key role in their qualification for the World Cup. He is yet to win the award.

The ceremony will start at 7:30 PM Bulgarian time.

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