JOHANNESBURG, July 11, 2010 - Laureus World Sports Academy Member and football legend Marcel Desailly has paid tribute to World Cup winners Spain, after their victory in the final over the Netherlands.
Marcel, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, said: "Spain have been the best team in the world for several years and they thoroughly deserve to be champions of the world."
Andres Iniesta's goal gave Spain a 1-0 extra time win to allow them to add the FIFA World Cup to the European Championship which they won in 2008. And it has also made them favourites for one of the nominations for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award.
Marcel Desailly added: "It may not have been Spain's best performance - the Dutch team made it very difficult for them - but I am pleased that they won the World Cup for the first time. When you look at the whole tournament, you see their quality shining through. It was right that Iniesta scored the goal and made the difference, he showed he was one of the few who could impose himself on the match."
Spain were nominated for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award following their European Championship victory in 2008, but they lost out to the China Olympic Team in the vote by the members of the Laureus Academy.
Many of the players who took part in the World Cup will be contenders for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award, including Iniesta, who, after scoring the winning goal, took off his shirt to reveal a T-shirt paying tribute to Daniel Jarque, the Espanyol player who died from a heart attack in August, with the message 'Dani Jarque is always with us'.
Also in contention will be Germany's Thomas Muller, who won the Golden Boot and was named best young player of the World Cup after scoring five times in six matches and making three assists, and Uruguay's Diego Forlan, who was named the best player in the tournament.
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