Ronaldo receives Bronze Boot as third top scorer; Raúl accepts Fair Play Trophy for Spain.

Awards galore. Three Madridistas made their way on stage at the Zurich Opera House on Monday night to accept various prizes. One of them, Fabio Cannavaro, was honoured twice. Not only was the Italian centre back named 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year, but he also won the Silver Ball as the second best player of the German World Cup, played between 9 June and 9 July. Meanwhile, Ronaldo was presented with the Bronze Boot and Raúl accepted FIFA's Fair Play Trophy on behalf of the Spanish national team.

Bronze Boot for a one of a kind forward
Germany's Miroslav Klose, who score five World Cup goals, received the Golden Boot as the competition's top scorer, while Hernán Crespo and Ronaldo, who each had three goals, took home the Silver Boot and Bronze Boot, respectively. The Bronze Boot is presented to the third top scorer of the FIFA World Cup according to the following criteria: the number of goals scored, then, the number of passes resulting in goals, and third, minutes played.

After the World Cup had ended, several players had tallied three goals on their score sheets, among whom were Ronaldo and Spain's Fernando Torres and David Villa. That is when FIFA proceeded to count goal assists, but because Crespo and Ronaldo were also level in that category, FIFA then moved on to the number of minutes on the pitch each player had seen. Hernán Crespo scored three goals and one assist in 305 minutes, while Ronaldo had three goals and one assist in 409 minutes.

Brazil's '9' arrived in Germany amid controversy about his technique and fitness. Although Ronaldo and Brazil were unable to get get passed the quarterfinals, the Madridista forward scored three goals in five matches, making him the top Brazilian scorer in the competition and the Bronze Boot presented by Adidas winner.

Ronaldo played in five matches during the final phase of the German World Cup, for a total of 409 minutes. The striker also served up one assist (to Adriano against Australia) and had a total of 15 shots on goal, eight of which were in between the woodwork.

His best match came against Japan, which earned him the Budweiser Man of the Match honour. When it was made official that Ronaldo had won the Bronze Boot, Roy Hodgson, member of FIFA's Technical Study Group, stated, “Ronaldo received this award thanks to two excellent goals he scored, especially the first, which came at a key moment of the match. Moreover, his performance throughout the match was also decisive in this process.”

We cannot forget that in Germany Ronaldo became the all-time top scorer in the history of the World Cup after finding the back of the net against Ghana. His 15th goal was one more than Germany's Gerd Müller. With four goals in the French World Cup and eight in the Japan & Korea, Ronaldo moved ahead of Jurgen Klismann (11), Sándor Kocsis (11) and Just Fontaine (13).

Fair Play Trophy handed to Raúl
Real Madrid's number ‘7’ also shared the spotlight at the FIFA World Player 2006 gala. The Madridista forward flew to Zurich as the captain the Spanish national team, and there he joined coach Luis Aragonés to receive the Fair Play Trophy, which Spain shared with Brazil, being that both sides shared the same number of points in the World Cup's Fair Play ranking. Representing Brazil, who take home the piece of hardware for the third time, were Ricardo Teixeira and Ronaldo. FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) awarded each team a total of 886 of the 1,000 possible points.

The award is presented to the team that shows the best behaviour on and off the pitch according to a points system and criteria established by the FIFA Committee for Ethics and Fair Play. Every match is evaluated, but only teams that move on to the Round of 16 are considered candidates for the award, which consists of the Fair Play Trophy, medals for the players and coaching staff, a diploma, and 50,000 dollars worth of football equipment to be used for youth development.

The evaluation is carried out according to six criteria which place an emphasis on the positive rather than the negative aspects of a team’s performance. The number of cards a team receives is the only way that points can be deducted. The other criteria taken into consideration are: positive play, with points awarded for an attractive, offensive-minded playing style; respect for opponents; respect for the officials; behaviour of the coaching staff and the behaviour of supporters.