Shevchenko to present FIFA Ballon d'Or award to Messi in ceremony in Zurich on Jan 7

21:02, 06.11.2012 1 min read

Ukrainian football star Andriy Shevchenko will present the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2012 award to the world's best player in the 2011-2012 season at a ceremony in Zurich on January 7, 2013.

"I have been invited, and I was glad to accept this invitation," Shevchenko told Interfax on Tuesday.

Lionel Messi of Argentina was recently named the winner of the 2012 award. He also won it in 2010 and 2011. He was also the last player to win France Football's Ballon d'Or in 2009, before it was merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2010.

Shevchenko himself won France Football's Ballon d'Or in 2004 while playing for A.C. Milan.

Shevchenko ended his football career after the UEFA Euro 2012 to become a member of the Ukraine-Forward party led by Natalya Korolevska, which ran in the recent parliamentary elections in Ukraine.