Highlights of World Cup 2006

Compiled by Rikaza Hassan

Gillette Best Young Player Award

The Gillette Best Young Player award has been created to recognise the impact made by young footballers in their first FIFA World Cup(tm). The tournament is constantly being rejuvenated by fresh talent - many of these players are relatively unknown even before the opening ceremony, but emerge as household names after the event.

Who can forget the manner in which Iker Casillas, El Hadji Diouf, Landon Donovan, Samuel Eto'o and Park Ji Sung burst onto the scene in 2002? New players bring fresh impetus to the game, changing the face of football with their fearless instinctive play and for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany a new trophy has been introduced to honour them, namely the Gillette Best Young Player award.

The Trophy

The award was designed and created by United Kingdom-based company, Fattorini - a crafts-artisans business founded in 1827. The trophy which stands at 300mm high and weighs 4.2 kilograms is made from a copper alloy with zinc (90%-10%) and is plated with nickel, rhodium and oxidized sterling silver. The integral design came to life using a number of state-of-the-art techniques and weighs just over four kilograms.

"We had to amalgamate a whole series of concepts in this design," company director Tom Fattorini explained. "The principal concepts we wanted the trophy to evoke are: youth, dynamism and skill together with other aspects related to the sponsors, Gillette. Getting the correct balance proved to be extremely difficult, but I think we have succeeded in creating an award that will stand the test of time."

Selecting a Player

Football fans from all over the world will be able to vote for their choice of Best Young Player for 2006 on FIFAworldcup.com.

From the opening game in Munich they will be able to select the player who makes the biggest impression on them during the tournament. After the semi-final the votes will be collected and the top three will join three more chosen by FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) to create a shortlist of six. The winner will be chosen by the TSG.

How does a player qualify?

All players born on or after 1 January 1985 who play in the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 will qualify for the 2006 Gillette Best Young Player award.

Shortist

The six players shotlisted for the award are Tranquill. Barnetta (Sweden), Lese Fabregas (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany) and the top three fan favourites: Luis Valencia (Ecuador) with 34% of the votes, Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) with 25% and Lionel Messi (Argentina) with 12%

GOLDEN BALL AWARD

The adidas Golden Ball award is presented to the outstanding player at each FIFA World Cup(tm) finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee and the winner voted for by representatives of the media.

Every FIFA World Cup(tm) finals produces one outstanding player destined to leave an indelible mark on the tournament in question. Beginning in 1982, FIFA and adidas have recognised the exceptional performers by awarding the adidas Golden Ball at the end of the event. The Golden Ball is arguably the most coveted individual trophy in the world game.

At the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan(tm), Germany's Oliver Kahn became the first goalkeeper to claim the prestigious award, accepting a newly-created version of the trophy inscribed with the names of all previous winners.

Alongside Kahn, the glittering prize has gone to Paolo Rossi (Italy), Diego Maradona (Argentina), Toto Schillaci (Italy), Romario (Brazil) and Ronaldo (Brazil). The names of all future winners will be added after each tournament.

The award procedure involves the FIFA technical committee nominating a shortlist of ten contenders following the semi-finals, before media representatives meet at the play-off for third place to elect the winner of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Balls.

The new design commissioned by adidas is based on the historic Chile ball created by the equipment manufacturer in 1960 and remains in adidas and FIFA's possession. The world governing body keeps the trophy on permanent display at FIFA House in Zurich.

(b-ball)

GOLDEN SHOE AWARD

The leading goalscorer at every FIFA World Cup(tm) finals is awarded the adidas Golden Shoe - past winners of the accolade include Gerd Muller, Ronaldo and Just Fontaine.