Manchester United star Ryan Giggs has won the Golden Foot 2011 Award. He was announced as the winner last night at a glittering event in Monte Carlo.
The Golden Foot is an annual award honouring footballers aged 29 or over who "stand out for their sport results (both as single players and with their team), for their personality and for the esteem of the public and football experts."
Prince Albert II of Monaco presented the trophy to Giggs after he came out highest in the record number of votes cast on the competition's website. Giggs' rivals for the 2011 award included David Beckham, Gianluigi Buffon, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, Iker Casillas, Javier Zanetti, Carles Puyol, Raul, and Xavi.
The 37-year-old will have a permanent mould of his feet put on Monte Carlo’s ‘champions promenade’, which includes some of the biggest names in footballing history such as Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane and Alfredo Di Stefano.
After receiving the trophy, Giggs paid tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson by calling him the greatest manager. "Sir Alex is the best manager and it's great to have had him there throughout my career", Giggs said.
On winning the award and on his thoughts about retirement, he said,
"It's a great honour to win such an award and to have my footprints alongside some of the greatest football players is a real privilege. I have been fortunate to play alongside great players, play for the greatest manager and play for the best club in the world. At the moment I am still enjoying my football so I have not thought about what I will do when I finish, but if it all finished tomorrow I could say that I have had a fantastic career and wouldn't swap it with anybody."
Congrats Giggsy!
