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Ronaldo beats Murray, Hosszu to win European Sportsperson award

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Ronaldo beats Murray, Hosszu to win European Sportsperson award

Real Madrid superstar Christiano Ronaldo has been voted the European Sportsperson of the Year, ahead of Andy Murray and Katinka Hosszu.

The Portuguese, who now holds the record of being the first and only footballer to have ever won the prestigious award in the 59 years of its existence, was voters’ best choice, while British tennis ace Murray and Hungarian swimmer Hosszu finished second and third respectively.

Murray won the Wimbledon while also conquering the gold in the Olympics, with the two feats helping him scale the top of the ATP World Rankings. While Hosszu won 3 Gold medals along with a Silver at the Rio Olympics – a world record as well as an Olympics record. However, their amazing year turned out less in comparison to Ronaldo’s.

The 31-year-old also won the 2016 Ballon d’Or after helping Real Madrid win the UEFA Champions League and leading Portugal to win Euro 2016, plus scoring a total of 55 goals for club and country. And only recently, he wrapped off the year with yet another Club World Cup title in Japan with his club Real Madrid.

Read Also: Andy Murray hits big dough in 2016 as World No. 1 (Photos)

The European Sportsperson of the Year award is dished out annually by Polish press agency PAP, in which 27 international agencies are asked to vote for their star of the sporting world.

The 27 agencies include: Efe (Spain) France Presse (France), Agerpress (Romania), ANP (Netherlands), APA (Austria), ATA (Albania), Belga (Belgium), Belta (Belorussia), BTA (Bulgaria), CTK (Czech Republic), DPA (Germany), Elta (Lithuania), Fena (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Hina (Croatia), Leta (Latvia), Lusa (Portugal), Moldpres (Moldova), SDA-ATS (Switzerland), SHGSK (Kosovo), SID (Germany), Sita (Slovakia), STA (Slovenia), Tanjug (Serbia), TASS (Russia), Ukrinform (Ukraine) and PAP (Poland).

And Ronaldo, who was awarded the best player at the Globe Soccer awards, has insinuated following the recognition that 2016 has been the best year of his career.

“Collectively and individually, it was probably my best year so far. We won the Champions League with Real Madrid, we won a major title with Portugal’s national team for the first time, I won the Ballon d’Or, the Club World Cup. I cannot ask for more.

The people who still doubt me, Real Madrid and the national team, they now have the proof. We won everything. So, it has been an amazing year and I am very happy with it. I want to thank my team-mates from the national team and Real Madrid,” Ronaldo stated.

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