James Rodriguez's World Cup goal wins 2014 Puskas Award

Colombia's James Rodriguez won the 2014 Puskas Award for his World Cup goal against Uruguay.

Colombia's James Rodriguez won the 2014 Puskas Award for his World Cup goal against Uruguay, FIFA announced on Monday at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala in Zurich, Switzerland.

James’ wondergoal in the World Cup earns the Puskas Award for goal of the year https://t.co/m7lKZFnCaR Beats finalists RVP, Stephanie Roche

— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) January 12, 2015

The award is given annually to the player with the best goal of the year. Fan voting trimmed a list of 10 goals down to three finalists: Rodriguez's World Cup volley, Stephanie Roche's three-touch goal for Peamount United in October and Robin van Persie's floating header for Netherlands in the World Cup vs. Spain.

Of the 3.3 million votes cast, Rodriguez earned 42 percent, Roche drew 33 percent and van Persie garnered 11 percent.

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Considering the distance and magnitude of his shot, Rodriguez was widely considered the favorite for the award.

The Puskas Award was created in memory of Ferenc Puskas, the captain of the Hungarian national team during the 1950s. It has been awarded since 2009.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden won 2013's award for his shot in a friendly international.

- Mike Fiammetta