The countdown continues: four weeks to go - THE BEST 2016
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| FIFA.com |
Today marks exactly four weeks until the footballing world turns its attention to Zurich, as the curtain rises on The Best FIFA Football Awards™ ceremony. This milestone provides an ideal opportunity for FIFA.com to start the week with a number of statistics focusing on this year’s nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award.
4 is the number of UEFA EURO Championships that Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in, a feat achieved by no other player. The fourth continental championship that the Portuguese took part – and scored - in was also his crowning glory of 2016, with the Real Madrid man emerging victorious with his country’s first title since the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol (FPF) was founded over a century ago.
Fellow The Best nominee Lionel Messi also appeared in his fourth continental championship for Argentina this year, the Copa America Centenario, with the first title for La Albiceleste eluding him in the final against Chile – for the second year in a row. Messi has scored in three of his four editions, but is only one goal behind Ronaldo’s total of nine, having scored eight across the four Copas he has played in (2007, 2011, 2015 and 2016).
On Antoine Griezmann’s first appearance at a continental finals for France, at this summer’s UEFA EURO 2016 on home soil, the Frenchman scored in four games, finishing the tournament’s top scorer with six goals thanks to his sole efforts against Albania and Iceland, and his braces against Republic of Ireland and Germany.