Zurich
He beat runner-up and great rival Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann to complete a sweep of top individual awards.
“2016 was the best year of my career,” Ronaldo said in Portuguese in his acceptance speech, which he began by exclaiming, “Wow, wow, wow.”
Ronaldo got 34.54 percent of total voting points in a 23-candidate ballot. Messi received 26.42 percent, and third-place Griezmann got 7.53 percent. Voting was by national team captains and coaches, selected media, and fans online.
Ronaldo’s fourth FIFA award closed the gap on five-time winner Messi, the runner-up to each Ronaldo victory, who did not attend the ceremony.
Ronaldo’s 2016 trophy haul included the European Championship, Champions League, and Club World Cup, plus individual best player awards from UEFA and France Football magazine.
Like Ronaldo, the United States’ Carli Lloyd won a FIFA player prize for the second year in a row.
Lloyd won despite Germany midfielder Melanie Behringer playing on the Olympic gold medal-winning team. Five-time winner Marta was runner-up and Behringer was third.
“I honestly was not expecting this,” Lloyd said. “I know Melanie did fantastic in the 2016 Olympics.”
Ronaldo’s coaches for club and country were beaten by Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, who earned the men’s coaching prize for a stunning English Premier League title.
Germany did win the women’s coaching prize as Silvia Neid earned her second FIFA prize, after also winning the 2010 award. Neid beat two previous winners: Pia Sundhage of Sweden, the Olympic silver medalist, and last year’s winner, Jill Ellis of the United States.
Asuncion, Paraguay
Valerio Cabanas, the brother of the deceased, said the cause of death was a heart attack.
Cabanas played for local club Cerro Porteno, was a member of Paraguay’s 1986 World Cup team, and was a regular with the New York Cosmos in the early 1980s.
Chicago
North Carolina FC acquired the rights to the defending league champion Flash, who will be renamed the North Carolina Courage and based in the Raleigh suburb of Cary. The name is a nod to the Carolina Courage of the now-defunct Women’s United Soccer Association in the early 2000s.
New York
The league Monday called the move a mutual decision. Peterson led the league since 2012, a year after the current NASL started play. Appointed interim commissioner was Rishi Sehgal, the NASL’s director of business development and legal affairs.
The NASL said it will play with four fewer teams this year. Its second-division status was extended provisionally Friday by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The 30-team United Soccer League also was given provisional second division status by the USSF, up from third tier from 2011-16.
Aaron Davidson was the NASL board chairman and an NASL investor before he was indicted in 2015 as part of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into soccer corruption. He pleaded guilty last October to federal racketeering conspiracy and wire-fraud conspiracy charges and is awaiting sentencing.
The league said it cut ties with Davidson’s soccer management company in November.
The Cosmos, the defending champions, said they will discuss on Tuesday their ownership status and financial obligations to players. Seamus O’Brien has been the team’s chairman team since it resumed play in 2013.
United draws Wigan in FA Cup 4th round
Eds: With AP Photos.
LONDON (AP) — Defending champion Manchester United has drawn 2013 winner Wigan at Old Trafford in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Chelsea will face Championship side Brentford in a west London derby at Stamford Bridge, and Manchester City will go to Crystal Palace or Bolton.
The winner of the replay between Liverpool and Plymouth will face Wolverhampton.
Non-league sides Sutton United and Lincoln will have home games if they win their third-round replays against Wimbledon and Ipswich respectively.
First, Sutton must get past Wimbledon, while Lincoln faces Ipswich.
If they are winners, Sutton will host Cambridge or Leeds, and Lincoln will welcome Brighton.