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Brazil's newly crowned FIFA World Footballer of the Year Ronaldinho, pictured receiving his
award from FIFA President Joseph Blatter, said he was committed to
the fight against racism in the sport
(AFP) | |
Brazil's newly-crowned FIFA World Footballer of
the Year Ronaldinho said he was committed to the fight against racism in
the sport.
Ronaldinho, who beat out Thierry Henry of France and Ukrainian 2004
European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko for the prize, said the
scourge of racism had to be
stamped out.
"Personally, I have never been the victim of racism but I got to know
about several incidents. That's why I decided to take part in a campaign
against racism with Thierry Henry," Ronaldinho said at Monday's gala evening at the Zurich opera
house.
"We are trying to get through
to football supporters that they must not think of this
sort of ideology during the 90 minutes of a football match. I am very
committed in the fight against racism."
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said once again he was determined to
eradicate racism from football.
"During the last few weeks and months, football has once more emerged
to become the victim of racism," Blatter said. "But we need society as a
whole to help us."
Meanwhile FIFA's disciplinary commission has decided what action to
take following the racist chanting aimed at England players during Spain's
1-0 victory in Madrid on November 17.
However FIFA said they would not reveal their decision until Tuesday or
even Wednesday. Rumours suggest the Spanish football federation will
suffer a severe punishment but FIFA declined to comment.
Meanwhile the top player of 2004, Ronaldinho, has simply had a great
year.
His club Barcelona are racing away at the top of the Spanish league and
Brazil are well on course to qualify for the 2006 World Cup from South
American qualifiers.
Ronaldinho was acclaimed by Pele himself as the best player at the 2002
World Cup and it is not surprising his talent has been finally recognised
with this award.
Ronaldinho's blinding pace
unhinged England's defence in the quarter-finals to set up a goal for
Rivaldo, and his audacious free-kick caught out David Seaman to
seal a 2-1 victory for Brazil.
Arguably he was the most important component of Brazil's vaunted
'Triple R' strike-force at those 2002 finals, surging forward from just
behind Ronaldo and Rivaldo and pulling opposing defenders out of position.
Undoubtedly he was one of the key components of Brazil winning their
unprecedented fifth World Cup title.
The award comes after a great year at Barcelona, for whom he signed
from PSG for 30 million euros in July 2003 under the noses of Manchester
United who were also courting him.
After a lacklustre first six months in the Catalonian capital, he
started to show top form and helped them to an incredible late season
surge which saw them just fail to take the title from eventual champions
Valencia.
This season, his confidence has grown under coach Frank Rijkaard and he
has blossomed into a truly magnificent player, aided by the excellent
Portuguese midfielder Deco.
(Agencies) |
巴西球員羅納爾迪尼奧剛剛榮獲國際足聯的本年度“足球先生”桂冠。他說，自己肩負對抗體育運動中存在的種族歧視的重任。
羅納爾迪尼奧力壓法國球星蒂埃里·亨利和烏克蘭的2004年歐洲足球先生安德烈·舍甫琴科，捧回世界足球先生的獎項。他說，種族主義的禍端必須被徹底消除。
“就個人而言，我從來沒有成為過種族歧視的受害者，但我聽說過幾起這樣的事例。這就是我為什么決定和蒂埃里·亨利一起參加反對種族主義的運動。”羅納爾迪尼奧本周一在蘇黎世歌劇院的慶祝晚會上說。
“我們試圖和球迷對話，告訴他們在一場90分鐘的球賽中，不應該用那樣的思維方式來看比賽。在反對種族歧視的斗爭中我會絕對盡心盡力。”
國際足聯主席塞普·布拉特再次表示，他決心要徹底根除足球運動中存在的種族偏見和歧視。
“在前幾個禮拜、乃至前幾個月里，足球又一次淪為種族主義的犧牲品，我們需要整個社會來幫助我們。”布拉特說。
與此同時，國際足聯紀律委員會已經決定了在“種族主義歌曲”事件發生后采取何種行動。11月17日，西班牙在首都馬德里以1：0取勝后，球場爆發出針對英格蘭球員的種族主義歌曲。
國際足聯表示，他們不會在周二甚至周三前透露所做的決定。有謠傳說西班牙足聯會遭到嚴厲處罰，但是國際足聯拒絕就此發表評論。
不過在這一年里，2004年度最佳球員羅納爾迪尼奧的確過得非常順利。
他所在的巴塞羅納俱樂部在西班牙足球聯賽中高居榜首，巴西在2006年世界杯南美賽區預選賽中也進展順利。
連球王貝利都盛贊羅納爾迪尼奧是2002年世界杯上表現最佳的球員，羅納爾迪尼奧此次獲獎也就不足為奇了，這個獎只是充分證明了他的天賦和才能而已。
在四分之一決賽中，羅納爾迪尼奧用“羅式花腿”晃過了英國的后防，為里瓦爾多提供了一次射門機會，后來他一記大膽的任意球又突破了門將大衛·希曼的薄弱環節，以2：1的比分為巴西鎖定勝局。
由此可見，在2002年的那些決賽、半決賽和1/4決賽中，他是巴西引以為傲的進攻主力“三R組合”中最重要的一員，他從羅納爾多和里瓦爾多身后脫穎而出，橫掃對方防守隊員。
無庸質疑，他是巴西史無前例地奪得第五次世界杯冠軍的關鍵因素之一。
他在巴塞羅納的一年表現優異，隨后獲得了本年度世界足球先生的桂冠。2003年7月，他以三千萬歐元的價格從巴黎圣日耳曼（PSG）轉會到巴塞羅納，放棄了就在眼前向他招手的的曼聯。
小羅呆在加泰羅尼亞首府的頭六個月沒什么出彩之處，隨后他開始展現出良好的競技狀態，幫助他們在賽季晚期取得了驚人成就，只是沒從巴倫西亞隊手中搶到最后的冠軍。
這個賽季，在教練弗蘭克·里杰卡爾德手下他的自信心增強了，在優秀的葡萄牙中鋒德科的協助下，逐漸長成了一位真正的出色球員。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-12-23 10:15