Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been named the European Footballer of the Year.
The Argentinean won the Ballon d’Or by a record margin from last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Argentinian won an unprecedented treble last season as the Catalan side won the Champions League, the Liga title and the Copa del Rey.
Messi was the top scorer in last year’s Champions League with nine goals, including a goal in the 2-0 final defeat of Manchester United in Rome.
Messi, who tallied 473 of a possible 480 points, largely dominated the voting and won with a record-margin of 240 points. Real Madrid winger Ronaldo had 233 and Xavi had 170.
“Honestly, I knew that I was among the favourites because Barcelona had a fruitful year in 2009,” he told France Football magazine.
“But I didn’t expect to win with such a margin. The Golden Ball is very important to me.
“All the players who won it were great players, and some great players never won it.”
Barca teammates were also recognised with midfielder Xavi taking third place with 170 points while Iniesta was fourth on 149.
In fifth place was Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, who left Barca to join Inter. He was Barca’s other scorer in the 2-0 final win over United.
Votes cast
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona) : 473 points
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Manchester United then Real Madrid) : 233 pts
3. Xavi (Spain, Barcelona) : 170 pts
4. Andres Iniesta (Espagnol, Barcelona): 149 pts
5. Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, Barcelona then Inter): 75 pts
6. Kaka (Brazil, Milan then Real Madrid): 58 pts
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Inter then Barcelona): 50 pts
8. Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United): 35 pts
9. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea): 33 pts
10. Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool): 32 pts
11. Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool): 22 pts
12. Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal): 13 pts
13. Edin Dzeko (Bosnia, Wolfsburg): 12 pts
14. Ryan Giggs (Wales, Manchester United): 11 pts
15. Thierry Henry (France, Barcelona): 9 pts
16. Luis Fabiano (Brazil, Sevilla), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United), Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid): 8 pts
19. Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid): 7 pts
20. Yoann Gourcuff (France, Bordeaux): 6 pts
21. Andrei Arshavin (Russia, Arsenal), Julio Cesar (Brazil, Inter), Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea): 5 pts
24. Maicon (Brazil, Inter Milan): 4 pts
25. Diego (Brazil, Werder Bremen then Juventus): 3 pts
26. David Villa (Spain, Valence), John Terry (England, Chelsea): 2 pts
28. Franck Ribery (France, Bayern Munich), Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast, Barcelona): 1 pt
30. Karim Benzema (France, Lyon then Real Madrid): 0 pt
Previous winners:
1956 – Stanley Matthews, Blackpool
1957 – Alfredo Di Stefano, Real Madrid
1958 – Raymond Kopa, Real Madrid
1959 – Alfredo Di Stefano, Real Madrid
1960 – Luis Suarez, Barcelona
1961 – Omar Sivori, Juventus
1962 – Josef Masopust, Dukla Prague
1963 – Lev Yashin, Dynamo Moscow
1964 – Denis Law, Manchester United
1965 – Eusebio, Benfica
1966 – Bobby Charlton, Manchester United
1967 – Florian Albert, Ferencvaros
1968 – George Best, Manchester United
1969 – Gianni Rivera, Milan
1970 – Gerd Mueller, Bayern Munich
1971 – Johan Cruyff, Ajax
1972 – Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern Munich
1973 – Johan Cruyff, Barcelona
1974 – Johan Cruyff, Barcelona
1975 – Oleg Blokhin, Dynamo Kyiv
1976 – Franz Beckenbauer, Bayern Munich
1977 – Allan Simonsen, Borussia Moenchengladbach
1978 – Kevin Keegan, Hamburg
1979 – Kevin Keegan, Hamburg
1980 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich
1981 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich
1982 – Paolo Rossi, Juventus
1983 – Michel Platini, Juventus
1984 – Michel Platini, Juventus
1985 – Michel Platini, Juventus
1986 – Igor Belanov, Dynamo Kyiv
1987 – Ruud Gullit, Milan
1988 – Marco Van Basten, Milan
1989 – Marco Van Basten, Milan
1990 – Lothar Matthaeus, Inter
1991 – Jean-Pierre Papin, Marseille
1992 – Marco Van Basten, Milan
1993 – Roberto Baggio, Juventus
1994 – Hristo Stoitchkov, Barcelona
1995 – George Weah, Milan
1996 – Matthias Sammer, Borussia Dortmund
1997 – Ronaldo, Inter
1998 – Zinedine Zidane, Juventus
1999 – Rivaldo, Barcelona
2000 – Luis Figo, Real Madrid
2001 – Michael Owen, Liverpool
2002 – Ronaldo, Real Madrid
2003 – Pavel Nedved, Juventus
2004 – Andriy Shevchenko, Milan
2005 – Ronaldinho, Barcelona
2006 – Fabio Cannavaro, Real Madrid
2007 – Kaka, Milan
2008 – Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United
2009 – Lionel Messi, Barcelona
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