Porto's Iker Casillas wins 2017 Golden Foot Award
The keeper beat Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Manuel Neuer, Leo Messi, Arjen Robben, Thiago Silva, Luis Suárez, Yaya Touré and Andrea Pirlo to the gong.
Iker Casillas was named the winner of the 2017 Golden Foot Award at a ceremony in Monaco on Tuesday, adding another personal accolade to his collection and becoming the second Spaniard to win the prize after Andrés Iniesta in 2014.
The Golden Foot is awarded to a player over the age of 28 and marks the whole of a career rather than being decided on performances over a season or calendar year. Casillas is the second consecutive keeper to win the award after Gianluigi Buffon scooped the prize last year.
The veteran Porto keeper saw off competition from nine other candidates to lift the award: Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Manuel Neuer, Leo Messi, Arjen Robben, Thiago Silva, Luis Suárez, Yaya Touré and Andrea Pirlo, who this week announced his retirement from the game.
Spain now has two winners of the award, with Italy top of the list and Brazil second:
Previous Golden Foot Awards by country
Italy: Roberto Baggio (2003), Alessandro Del Piero (2007), Francesco Totti (2010) and Buffon (2016).
Brazil: Ronaldo, (2006), Roberto Carlos (2008) and Ronaldinho (2009).
Spain: Andrés Iniesta (2014) and Iker Casillas (2017)
One award each:
Ukraine (Andriy Shevchenko, 2005), Wales (Ryan Giggs, 2011), Sweden (Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 2012), Ivory Coast (Didier Drogba, 2013), Cameroon (Samuel Eto’o, 2015).
