Real Madrid and Brazil striker Ronaldo was voted European Footballer of the Year for the second time today by France Football magazine, becoming the first ever non-European player to win the award twice.

In second place was his club and international team-mate Roberto Carlos, while in third, for a second successive year, was Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. The European champions were well represented when the runners-up were announced, with former winner Zinedine Zidane in fourth place.

Michael Ballack was fifth, while no player from the Premiership made it into the judges' top five. The 26-year-old has now joined an elite band of only eight players to have claimed the Ballon D’Or on more than one occasion after winning it as a 21-year-old in 1997 when at Barcelona.

The others include Alfredo Di Stefano, Franz Beckenbauer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Kevin Keegan, who all have won it twice, and a third award would place him alongside the likes of Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff.

 

The forward, who joined Madrid from Internazionale after the World Cup in July, has won the most prestigious football award that an individual can be honoured with in a year that he played just 16 competitive club matches in Italy and Spain.

However, France Football confirmed that the trophy was based not just on a player's club performances in Europe, but also on what he did on the international stage. And as this year was a World Cup year, Ronaldo's efforts in Korea/Japan appear to have swung the decision his way.

He was top scorer at the tournament with eight goals, including two in the 2-0 defeat of Germany in the final, the highest total in the competition since 1974 and many believe that without his contribution, Brazil may not have won football's greatest prize.

Not only did Ronaldo win his first ever World Cup this year following his and Brazil's defeat in the final four years earlier when he suffered a mysterious fit prior to kick-off, but he was also selected by FIFA in their All-Star squad of the World Cup and on Tuesday is widely expected to win his third FIFA World Player of the Year award, especially as the world governing body are holding their gala event in Madrid.

And, two weeks ago he scored the goal that helped his new employers win the World Club Cup in Yokohama before being named by World Soccer magazine as their Footballer of the Year.

With journalists from 52 UEFA-affiliated countries deciding on the winner, it is clear that the Rio-born striker has attracted a lot of sympathy votes due to his recovery from four years of knee-related injuries and a quick glance down France Football's short list of 50 nominees gives a clue as to where the main priorities lie when choosing a winner. Junichi Inamoto, a star at the World Cup but a reserve for his club Arsenal in 2002, is among the names, but there was no place for Manchester United captain Roy Keane because of his premature departure from the Far East.

In contrast, Ronaldo played just three Serie A games for Inter prior to the World Cup and since scoring on his Madrid debut against Alaves, he has taken part in only eight matches for the European champions and of the 16 club games that he has played this year for Inter and Madrid, in only four of those was he still on the pitch come full time.