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HEADLINE: Spain’s David Villa and Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands both on course for
adidas trophy double.
STORY: adidas Golden Ball Nominations
LOCATION: Jo’bulani Central, Johannesburg, South Africa
DATE: 9 July 2010
DURATION: 4 min
ASPECT: 16:9
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STORY SCRIPT:
FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke and the CEO of the adidas Group Herbert Hainer
have announced the candidates for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball award. The ten
players were revealed to the media at Jo’bulani Central, adidas HQ in South Africa.
Spain’s David Villa and Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands are both on course to win the
adidas Golden Boot for top scorer and the Golden Ball for the best player. Villa and Sneijder
are currently equal on FIFA World Cup™ goals scored at the South African tournament with
five each and both players have been nominated as potential winners of the adidas golden
ball award for the best player of the tournament. The full list of 10 players nominated for the
Golden Ball award includes three Spanish stars Xavi, Villa and Andres Iniesta while Holland’s
Arjen Robben joins Wesley Sneijder on the list. Ten players have been selected by FIFA’s
Technical Committee but the final winner will be voted by World Cup accredited media. Oliver
Khan, a 2002 winner of the best player award thinks it will go to a member of the World Cup
winning team, Spain of course face the Netherlands at Soccer City on Sunday.
Kalusha Bwalya and Christian Karembeu both FIFA Technical Committee members give
insight into how the 10 nominated players are selected, Oliver Khan the 2002 FIFA World Cup
adidas Golden Ball winner gives comment on all 10 players, why have they excelled in South
Africa? And finally, we take a look back to every adidas Golden ball winning since 1966 with
those that played against them or knew them well.
The full is list of 2010 FIFA World Cup ™ Golden Ball nominees
Diego Forlan (URU, 10)
Asamoah Gyan (GHA, 3)
Andres Iniesta (ESP, 6)
Lionel Messi (ARG, 10)
Mesut Özil (GER, 8)
Arjen Robben (NED, 11)
Bastian Scheweinsteiger (GER, 7)
Wesley Sneijder (NED, 10)
David Villa (ESP, 7)
XAVI (ESP, 8)
PAST WINNERS OF adidas GOLDEN BALL TROPHY
1966
Bobby Charlton
(England)
1970
Pele
(Brazil)
1974
Johan Cruijff
(Netherlands)
1978
Mario Kempes
(Argentina)
1982
Paulo Rossi
(Italy)
1986
Diego Maradona
(Argentina)
1990
Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)
1994
1998
2002
2006
Romario
Ronaldo
Oliver Kahn
Zinedine Zidane
(Brazil)
(Brazil)
(Germany)
(France)
VNR SHOT LIST, SOUNDBYTES & TRANSLATIONS
CLIP
adidas Golden Ball Announcement
Wide shot of Jo’bulani Central arena
Mid shot of Herbert Hainer and Jerome Valcke
INTERVIEW: Jerome Valcke, FIFA General Secretary
We had great players and a great time on the pitch it is true that some of our stars some of the football
stars that they had some difficulties to express their best of football but finally again we are at a very
very good football level and we are so happy that we will have a new champion at the end of this world
cup, and for the first time Europe winning the World cup outside of Europe so it is definitely a great
tournament.
Mid shot of Herbert Hainer and Jerome Valcke
INTERVIEW : Herbert Hainer, CEO adidas Group
We are quite happy with the performance of our brand here at the tournament be it that we had two
teams in the semi finals or one in the final or be it our players just think about David villa, Xavi, Diego
Forlan and Messi just to name a few. I hope one of them will win the trophy being the best player of
the world cup and follow the icon Zinedine Zidane who won it in 2006. But also commercially we are
quite satisfied we will achieve new record sales with 1.5 billion euros so overall it is a very successful
event for us.
The announcement of the 10 players for the adidas Golden ball.
Diego Forlan (URU, 10)
Asamoah Gyan (GHA, 3)
Andres Iniesta (ESP, 6)
Lionel Messi (ARG, 10)
Mesut Özil (GER, 8)
Arjen Robben (NED, 11)
Bastian Scheweinsteiger (GER, 7)
Wesley Sneijder (NED, 10)
David Villa (ESP, 7)
XAVI (ESP, 8)
CLIP 1
INTERVIEW: Lionel Messi, Argentina
Messi on Diego
To be honest, pointing out just one skill from Diego is difficult, for some reason he is the most
complete player in history, and for lots of people the best in the world, this is why it is difficult
to pick just one.
INTERVIEW: Nelson Valdez,
Spanish Language
Romario
El primer Mundial que vi fue en el 94, pero no me acuerdo de Paraguay, creo que no estuvo
en el Mundial. Sólo del partido que me acuerdo es que Romario era mi ídolo. Era un niño y
que el partido de la final fue contra Di Baggio. Di Baggio o Romario. Y para mí fue un partido
muy lindo porque al final Di Baggio erró el penal para que Romario saliera campeón.
TRANSLATION
The first World Cup I saw was ’94 but I don’t remember Paraguay, I don’t think they made it to
the World Cup. What I remember was that Romario was my idol. I was a child and I
remember that the final was against Baggio. Baggio against Romario. For me it was a very
nice match because in the end Baggio missed the penalty and Romario won.
INTERVIEW: Gonzalez
Spanish Language
Gonzalez on Pele
Básicamente, lo que más me gusta de él o lo que hace que a mí me guste este jugador es
que por la explosividad que tenía, por la habilidad que tenía con la pelota, por todas las
cosas que él se ingeniaba, por todos los goles que marcó. O sea, básicamente eso. Él era
un jugador totalmente completo, que bueno, uno se pregunta al verlo jugar como que si fuera
fácil la cosa, pero para él era como todo fácil y no es fácil, es muy difícil.
TRANSLATION
Basically, what I like about him or what makes me like him is his energy, his skill with a
football, the things he created, all the goals he scored. That’s it, basically. He was an allround player and when you see him play he makes everything look easy, but it is not easy. In
fact, it is very difficult.
INTERVIEW: KAKA, Brazil
Portuguese Language
Kaka on Pele
I want to talk to you about hat tricks, World Cup hat tricks, Pele scored a hat trick in
1958 against France in the semi final just tell me the qualities of the great man that
everybody knows, just to describe to me what the legend of Pele is and if you can
mention his hat trick in 1958
ninguém vai conseguir fazer os feitos que o Pelé fez, inclusive ter feito três golos num jogo,
que foi na Copa de 58. Isso demonstra mais uma vez a qualidade que o Pelé teve, tinha e
acredito que tem, claro, um talento você nunca esquece. Mas no período que ele foi atleta
profissional, ele demonstrou toda essa qualidade.
TRANSLATION
no one will be able to achieve what Pelé achieved, including the three goals he scored in just
one game, in the World Cup 1958. That demonstrates once more the quality Pelé had, and
still has, I believe, you never forget a talent. But when he was a professional athlete he
proved he had all those qualities.
INTERVIEW: KAKA, Brazil
Portuguese Language
Kaka on Romario
The Adidas Golden Ball that goes to the best player of the World Cup again if you
could mention Adidas Golden Ball; 7 Brazilians have won that award since 1930 tell me
about Romario who won in 1994, tell me about that award and mention Romario?
O Romário é um grande ídolo brasileiro, principalmente por essa conquista do Mundial de 94.
Eu, como torcedor, a Copa de 94 é a Copa que eu mais lembro, assim, que eu tenho a
primeira grande memória de Copa do Mundo. A de 90 eu lembro pouco, mas a de 94 foi a
que eu mais vivi como torcedor, depois a de 98 e 2002 já participando. Então, essa de 94
realmente era um grande prazer ver o Romário jogar,
TRANSLATION
Romário is a great Brazilian icon, especially because of his achievements in the World Cup of
1994. The World Cup of 1994 is the first one I remember as a supporter. I can’t really
remember the World Cup of 1990, but the one of 1994 I lived as a supporter, and then the
one of 1998. I participated in the World Cup of 2002. So, it was really a great pleasure to see
Romário playing,
INTERVIEW: Simoa
Portuguese Language
Messi
Neste momento, neste momento eu penso que o Messi, o Messi está num momento muito
fantástico, em que ganhou tudo com o Barcelona, está a marcar muitos golos, não tem
lesões, é um jogador que se vê que tem tudo, tem força, é pequeno, tem força, tem
velocidade, tem dribbling, tem goal, é um jogador que neste momento qualquer adepto de
futebol paga para ver
TRANSLATION
At this point, I think I’d choose Messi, Messi is going through a fantastic phase, he took it all
with Barcelona, he is scoring a lot, has no injuries, he has everything, he is strong, he is
small, strong, he is fast, he has got dribbling, goal, he is a player that any football lover would
pay to watch
INTERVIEW: De Rossi, Italy
Italian Language
Zidane
È il… fo… forse il giocatore più forte che ho incontrato…grande qualità, grande tecnica, però
abbinata ad un fisico incredibile che è cosa che non dice forse nessuno di lui.. fisicamente
era, era una roccia e nello stesso tempo univa a questa fisicità una qualità tecnica che non
aveva nessuno
TRANSLATION
He is… likely to be the best player I have ever met… of great quality, a great technique
matched to an extraordinary build, funny enough no one ever mentions that of him … but
physically he was, he was a rock, and he managed to combine it with great technical skills,
like nobody has ever done before.
INTERVIEW: Josmer Altidore, USA
English Language
Ronaldo
Which strikers when you think back as a young boy watching World Cup games which
ones did you think “oh I want to be like him”?
I think Ronaldo, the Brazilian Ronaldo was just simply incredible when he played in the World
Cup. Even when he had the injury in ’98 and still played he’s just so graceful on the ball and
at the same time so potent, so dangerous and any time he could strike it’s just I think he’s, for
me, you know for a lot of people, the best striker ever and I think he proved that along the
way.
CLIP 2
INTERVIEW: Salomon Kalou, Ivory Coast
French Language
Johan Cruyff
I want to ask you about some past World Cup players, Johan Cruyff you never saw play
obviously but just tell me about what you’ve heard about the legend of the man and the
kind of man he was on the pitch?
J’ai vu… J’ai jamais vu Cruyff jouer, mais j’ai vu des cassettes de lui et je pense que… Ben, il
était au même niveau que Pelé et Maradona. Je pense que c’est dans la même lignée de
joueurs. Il était fascinant à voir, balle au pied. Il a une vision pas possible. Il savait tout faire
avec le ballon.
TRANSLATION
I’ve never… I’ve never seen Cruyff play, but I’ve seen tapes and I think that… Well, he was in
the same category as Pelé and Maradona. I think he was in this line of players. He was
fascinating to watch with a ball. He had an incredible vision. He could do anything with a ball.
INTERVIEW: Michael Ballack, Germany
German Language
Ballack on Khan
Q. Tell us about a goal keepers personality and playing with Oliver Kahn.
Oliver war darüber hinaus auch einer, der die Mannschaft immer wieder vorangetrieben hat,
in schwierigen Situationen Leader war, der persönlichkeit hatte, Austrahlung hatte auf das
Team. Und das ist im Fussball, einem Mannschaftssport ganz, ganz wichtig, dass du solche
Typen in der Mannschaft hast, dass wenn es schwierige Situationen gibt, dass die anderen
Spieler dann zu denen schauen und sich an dem aufrichten können und Oliver war so ein
Typ. Und deswegen glaube ich, war es toll, oder es war eine tolle Erfahrung mit ihm
zusammen gespielt zu haben.
TRANSLATION
Oliver was also someone, who kept driving the team forwards, who was a leader in difficult
times, who had personality and a positive effect on the team. And it is for football, a team
sport, very, very important that you have people like him on your team so the other players
have someone to look towards for encouragement in difficult situations. And Oliver was such
a person. This is why I think it was great, or it was a great experience to be able to play with
him.
INTERVIEW: Stanislav Sestak,
On Zidane
What striker did he like to watch at the World Cup when he was young and why did he
like him?
Tak posledný, v poslednom období, samozrejme, sa mi najviac páčil Zinedine Zidane, pretože
bol to neuveriteľný hráč. Škoda, že nemohol hrať ešte, ešte dlhšie a ozaj predvádzal veci,
ktoré, ktoré boli až, až nenormálne. Teraz, dá sa povedať, že to isté Lionel Messi, keď tiež
dokazuje svoju kvalitu v každom jednom zápase a úplne keď som bol ako malý,
TRANSLATION
Well, recently I, of course, liked Zinedine Zidane most because he was an incredible player.
It's a shame he could not carry on playing longer. He showed things which were indeed
almost unreal. Now, I would say, the same applies to Lionel Messi as he also proves his
quality in every single match.
CLIP 3
INTERVIEW: Zinedine Zidane, France
Golden Ball Winner: 2006
French Language
Q. Tell us about the adidas Golden Ball award and its importance.
Zidane 6 - French:
Le fait de gagner l'adidas Golden Ball pour la Coupe du Monde en fait c'est ce que rêve en
fait un joueur de foot. En premier c'est de jouer une Coupe du Monde, c'est de pouvoir faire
une Coupe du Monde et après c'est de pouvoir la gagner et ensuite c'est individuellement il
peut y avoir un récompense comme celle ci, comme j'ai pu l'avoir en 2006. C'est vrai que
c'est un grand souvenir même si a un moment donné on a discuté cela par rapport à ce que
j'avais fait. Le fait de me l'avoir donnée m'a fait beaucoup de bien. Je trouve que d'être
meuilleur joueur d'une Coupe du Monde c'est pas donné à tout le monde, c'est un travail qui
est difficile et on se dit qu'à un moment donné on est pratiquement le meilleur joueur du
monde. Même si moi je ne me l'intégrait pas parce que...on ne va pas jouer jouer sur les mots
mais quelque part on se dit: "Je suis fier d'avoir fait ca".
TRANSLATION
Zidane 6 - English:
Winning the adidas Golden Ball for a World Cup is what a football player dreams of. First, it is
to just play in a World Cup and then maybe to win it. And after that, on a personal note, you
can get an award like this one which I won in 2006. It is true that it is a great
souvenir/memory even if for a moment there was some discussion around it because of what
I had done. The fact that they gave it to me did me a lot of good. Being voted best player of a
World Cup does not happen to everybody, it is a very difficult piece of work and you say to
yourself that at a certain point in time you are practically the best player in the world even if at
that time I could not realize it....ok, I don't want to play with words but at some point I can say
to myself: "I am proud to have achieved that!"
INTERVIEW: Oliver Khan, Germany
Golden Ball Winner: 2002
German Language
TRANSLATION
It is often said that best goalkeepers are best goalkeepers and not necessarily best players so
for me when this occurred this was an absolutely extraordinary event not only to be
nominated as the best goalkeeper but also to receive the golden ball I think that there was
abit of luck on my side aswell that the big teams like France with their top players like Zidane
had fallen away.
INTERVIEW: Franz Beckenbauer, Former German player and Manager
Mario Kempes he was a real striker he was a goal scorer, he was a fantastic player and he
deserve of course 78 because he was the leading goal scorer at this tournament and he
deserved the Golden Ball.
INTERVIEW: Carlos Alberto Parriera, Coach South Africa
Q. Bobby Charlton?
He was a perfect player a complete player, a play maker the one who really gave balance
and stability to co-ordinate the team. They had two players in the midfield, Nobby Styles and
Bobby Charlton Noby Styles was the holding midfield player and Bobby Charlton was the
playmaker of the team.
INTERVIEW: Christian Karembeu, FIFA Technical Committee member
Q. What do the ten 2010 golden Ball nominees have in common?
They have a lot in common they are all players who have guided their team to victory,
sometimes through leadership, some times through shouting the team into position, but all by
making good actions and being a role model, for a good spirit of fair play.
CLIP
INTERVIEW: Fernando Hierro, Former Spanish International
Q. Xavi?
I think is a player of an extraordinary level.
A player who start to compete for the Golden ball and for the FIFA World player
Possibly the best player will come from the winner team.
Hopefully the trophy will be win for on of our players, this will mean we had won.
In the world there are many good players.
But I think Spanish national team has good opportunities and with a bit of luck and doing
things well It could be possible he would be the best player in the tournament.
INTERVIEW: Ruud Gullit, Former Dutch International
Q. Wesley Sneijder?
I think for a small man he is quite strong he exceptional with both feet, left and right he takes
corners with both that you don’t see very often he is extremely mobile he can turn around on
himself very easily same way as Xavi and Iniesta does and what I like about him is before he gets
the ball he is already thinking about how can I put the ball forward, to damage the opposition and that
is the thing that makes him so strong.
INTERVIEW: Ruud Gullit, Former Dutch International
Q. Xavi?
I think he is like a director of an orchestra I think if he doesn’t play well than Spain or
Barcelona doesn’t play well. He rarely passes the ball to the opposition and they rarely
intercept his passes. So if he completes all those passes then the whole team is working and
he is the center of that team.
CLIP
INTERVIEW: Kalusha Bwalya, FIFA Technical Committee member
Q. How do you select the 10 nominees?
It is difficult because we are sitting with 15 people and everybody looks at different players
and then we bring them together and then we have to say look, what influenced this players
heart, on the game and in this tournament or a particular match there is always going to be a
lot of debate. But in this one we have had, not like in the past, in this one we have had 6 or 7
players that everybody agreed on. For the rest we had to look because there was many
candidates because of the games that had been played. Especially with the first round having
been so tactical with people wanting to go through to the 2nd round, maybe the players were
reserved maybe the coaches were there is a lot more pressure on the players today because
everything they are doing in preparation we know what they are doing and so do the other
teams. So the individuals came out and played on the filed and we were very happy to
nominate those we have although maybe there could have been other players who should
have be named in this tournament the standard was very very high but I think we have got it
right this time.
CLIP
INTERVIEW : Herbert Hainer, CEO adidas Group
(on adidas at the FIFA World Cup™ )
CLIP
INTERVIEW Oliver Khan, Golden Ball winner 2
(Khan previews all 10 nominated players)
A ROLL CLIP UPLOADED
Lionel Messi
“Winning this trophy, the Golden Ball Adidas would be very special.”
Kaka
“No one will be able to achieve what Pelé achieved, including the three goals he scored in just
one game, in the World Cup 1958.”
Pelé 1970 Mexico
Salomon Kalou on Cruyff
“He was in the same category as Pelé and Maradona. He had an incredible vision. He could
do anything with a ball.”
Johan Cruijff - 1974 West Germany
Mario Kempes - 1978 Argentina
Paolo Rossi- 1982 Spain
Lionel Messi
“Pointing out just one skill from Diego is difficult, for some reason he is the most complete
player in history, and for lots of people the best in the world.”
Diego Maradona -1986
Salvatore Schillaci - 1990 Italy
Romário - 1994 USA
Kaka
“Romário is a great Brazilian icon, especially because of his achievements in the World Cup
of 1994. The World Cup of 1994 is the first one I remember.”
Jozy Altidore on Ronaldo
“I think Ronaldo, the Brazilian Ronaldo was just simply incredible when he played in the World
Cup. Even when he had the injury in ’98 and still played he’s just so graceful on the ball and
at the same time so potent.”
Ronaldo - 1998 France
Oliver Khan
“Not only to be nominated as the best goalkeeper but also to receive the golden ball I think
that there was abit of luck on my side as well that the big teams like France with their top
players like Zidane had fallen away.”
Oliver Khan - 2002 Korea \ Japan
Daniele de Rossi on Zidane
“Physically he was, he was a rock, and he managed to combine it with great technical skills,
like nobody has ever done before.”
Zinedine Zidane - 2006 Germany
“It is true that it is a great souvenir/memory even if for a moment there was some discussion
around it because of what I had done. The fact that they gave it to me did me a lot of good. .
Being voted best player of a World Cup does not happen to everybody.”
END OF VNR
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