Carli Lloyd Wins FIFA Player of the Year Award in a Landslide
Carli Lloyd of the USA and Argentina’s Lionel Messi pose with their trophies after winning the FIFA soccer player of the year 2015 prize during the FIFA Ballon d’Or awarding ceremony at the Kongresshaus in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, January 11, 2016.
FIFA announced today that Carli Lloyd was the winner of the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Award. The Delran, New Jersey, native took home the trophy with 35.28 percent of the votes.
Second place was Germany’s Célia Šašić with 12.6 percent of the vote, so Lloyd won in a landslide. The votes came from 136 national team coaches, 135 national team captains and 106 media representatives.
The 2015 @FIFA Women's and Men's World Player of the Year: Carli Lloyd and Lionel Messi. #BallondOr 🇺🇸🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/HVnGEfbrgQ
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) January 11, 2016
Lloyd is the third member of the United States women’s national team to win the player of the year award, which FIFA has given out since 2001. Mia Hamm won the first two, while Abby Wambach won the 2012 prize. “This has been a dream of mine ever since I started with the national team,” Lloyd said after accepting the award.
Lloyd plays for the Houston Dash club in the National Women’s Soccer League. But her biggest exploits of 2015 came in the Women’s World Cup, where she won the Golden Ball award for the best player. She scored six goals, tied for the tournament high, including a hat trick in the World Cup Final against Japan. Her third goal in that game was also up for the Goal of the Year award.
https://vine.co/v/enXd20qxPYv
Lloyd’s hat trick came in the first 16 minutes of the game. She also scored in the United States’ Round of 16 win over Colombia, its quarterfinal win over China and its semifinal win over Germany. The Goal of the Year award went to Brazilian second-division player Wendell Lira.
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