LIONEL MESSI IS ‘GREATEST PLAYER OF THIS GENERATION’ SAYS LAUREUS
FOOTBALL LEGEND MARCEL DESAILLY
- ‘Messi is in the same class as di Stefano, Cruyff, Maradona and Pelé’ – says former France captain and World Cup winner Desailly
- Argentina and FC Barcelona star Lio nel Messi waits to see if he is winner of 2013 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award
- Messi nominated by world’s media for coveted Award for fourth year
- Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Rio de Janeiro on March 11
- Apply for media accreditation on www.laureus.com/accreditation
RIO DE JANEIRO, February 26, 2013 – Lionel Messi will discover in two weeks if he is the winner of the 2013 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.
Desailly said: “Lionel Messi is just extraordinary, a phenomenon. Many footballers have great seasons, but he just keeps producing them year after year. His opponents know how dangerous he is, but they just cannot find a way to stop him scoring. He is without doubt the greatest player of this generation and as a goalscorer one of the greatest players of all time.
“And we should remember that he has achieved all this by the time he is 25. Who knows what he can achieve by the time he stops playing. Even now, I would put him in the same cl ass as di Stefano, Cruyff, Maradona and Pelé,” added Desailly.
In the most prolific year of his career, Messi also
overtook the great Pelé, who scored 75 goals in 1958, and he became the first
man to be named FIFA World Footballer of the Year four times.
The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement
during the calendar year 2012, are the premier honours on the international
sporting calendar. The winners, as voted by the Laureus World
Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 46 of the greatest
sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, will be unveiled at a globally televised
Awards Ceremony staged in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, March 11.Messi, who is nominated for t he fourth straight time, faces a formidable challenge if he is to become the first team player to win this prestigious individual Award. Among the other Nominees whom he must beat are Olympic heroes Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins and three-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports over 140 community sports projects around the world. Since its inception, Laureus has raised €60 million for projects which have improved the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people.
The 2013 Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony, which will be attended by the greatest names in sport, past and present, and broadcast to a worldwide TV aud ience, will be staged at the celebrated Theatro Municipal, a spectacular venue in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, which stages gala performances by international dancers and musicians and which also hosted events at Rio +20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012.
The Laureus World Sports Awards will enhance the
calendar of major global events that Rio de Janeiro is hosting in the coming
years, such as the 2013 World Judo Championship, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and
the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Rio is the birthplace of sport and
culture in Brazil, a state of vibrant energy and natural beauty that has become
a showcase of the country to the world.
Among the winners who have received Awards at previous
Award Ceremonies have been Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Ale x Ferguson, Lewis
Hamilton, Justine Henin, Kelly Holmes, Rafael Nadal, Steve Redgrave, Ronaldo,
Michael Schumacher, Kelly Slater, Serena Williams and Zinedine Zidane. Guests
attending the Awards Ceremony have included His Majesty King Juan Carlos of
Spain, HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, David and Victoria Beckham, Sean Connery,
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Morgan Freeman, Teri Hatcher, Eva
Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey.
The full list of Nominees for the 2013 Laureus World Sports Awards is:
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) Athletics; Mo Farah (UK) Athletics; Lionel Messi (Argentina) Football; Michael Phelps (US) Swimming; Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Motor Racing; Bradley Wiggins (UK) Cycling
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year
Jessica Ennis (UK) Athletics; Allyson Felix (US) Athletics: Missy Franklin (US) Swimming; Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica) Athletics; Lindsey Vonn (US) Skiing; Serena Williams (US) Tennis
Laureus World Team of the Year
China Olympic Table Tennis Team; European Ryder Cup Team; Miami Heat (US) Basketball; Red Bull Formula One Team (Austria); Spain Men’s Football Team; US Men’s Basketball Team
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year
Yannick Agnel (France) Swimming; Gabby Douglas (US) Gymnastics; Kirani James (Grenada) Athletics: Andy Murray (UK) Tennis; Neymar (Brazil) Football; Ye Shiwen (China) Swimming
Laureus World Comeback of the Year
Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) Athletics; Ernie Els (South Africa) Golf; European Ryder Cup Team; Anna Meares (Australia) Cycling; Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic) Athletics; Germany Men’s Olympic Eights Rowing Team
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
Patrick Anderson (Canada) Wheelchair Basketball; Johanna Benson (Namibia) Athletics; Daniel de Faria Dias (Brazil) Swimming; Alan Fonteles Oliveira (Brazil) Athletics; David Weir (United Kingdom) Wheelchair Racing; Alex Zanardi (Italy) Hand Cycling
Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year
Felix Baumgartner (Austria) Skydiving; Jamie Bestwick (UK) BMX; Julie Bresset (France) Mountain Biking; Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) Surfing; Joel Parkinson (Australia) Surfing; Philip Köster (Germany) Windsurfing
No comments:
Post a Comment