The 2009 Ballon d'Or, given to the best

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player in the world as judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded to

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on 1 December 2009. Messi won the award by a then record margin, 240 points ahead of

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

winner

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely con ...

was the second Barcelona player in the top three, finishing a further 63 points behind Ronaldo. Messi's win made him the first Argentine-born player to win the award since

Omar Sívori Enrique Omar Sívori (, ; 2 October 1935 – 17 February 2005) was an Italian-Argentine football player and manager who played as a forward. At club level, he is known for his successful time with Italian side Juventus during the late 1950s and ...

in 1961; however, Sívori had taken Italian citizenship by that time and is recognised to have won the Ballon d'Or as an Italian player.

Rankings

References

External links

''France Football'' Official Ballon d'Or page
{{Ballon d'Or recipients

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2009–10 in European football