Barca star Messi wins 4th Ballon d'Or Award after Record-Breaking Year

AFRIKUPDATE

SPORTS

                           

Lionel Messi won a record-breaking fourth consecutive FIFA Ballon d'Or at an awards ceremony in Zurich.
                                                    Talking a good game: Messi grabs hold of his award during his acceptance speech

The 25-year-old Argentinian took the honour ahead of Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lionel Messi won a record-breaking fourth consecutive FIFA Ballon d'Or at an awards ceremony in Zurich.
                                                             The moment of truth: Italy's Fabio Cannavaro shows the envelope with Messi's name as winner

The 25-year-old Argentinian took the honour ahead of Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo.

The top English player in the list was Manchester United's Wayne Rooney who came 15th with 0.39 per cent of the votes. 

Speaking at the pre-gala press conference, Messi claimed he did not consider 2012 his best year yet.

He said: 'I'm more interested in team awards than I am about what I might win individually. There have been years where we won more titles that have been better.'
                                      What a team: The Team of the Year was made up entirely of La Liga players

Messi's team-mates and rivals paid tribute to him.

Barca midfielder Cesc Fabregas wrote on Twitter: 'Congratulations Leo, forth time as the best player of £ballondor, you deserve it. And also to @andresiniesta8, huge to be there.'

Argentina team-mate Sergio Aguero simply Tweeted: 'Messi, Messi, Messi, Messi.'

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand Tweeted: "Congrats to Messi! Wow,4 yrs in a row!! Messi has added something else to his list of 'the only person to....' #isMessiTheBestOfAllTime ??'
                           The final three: The Ballon d'Or finalists Cristiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta and winner Lionel Messi
                  The final three: The Ballon d'Or finalists Cristiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta and winner Lionel Messi
Fenerbahce's Miroslav Stoch won the FIFA Puskas Award for goal of the year, Spain boss Vicente Del Bosque was named World Coach of the Year and United States international Abby Wambach won Women's World Player of the Year.

The FIFPro World XI was named up entirely of players based in Spain with Barcelona's Dani Alves, Gerard Pique and Xavi, Real Madrid's Iker Casillas, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso and Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao joining the three Ballon d'Or nominees in the team.

Franz Beckenbauer received the FIFA Presidential Award.

Comments

Post a Comment