UEFA Player of the Year won by Messi for 3rd time

Argentine player Lionel Messi was voted the best player in the world for the third year running when he was awarded the FIFA Ballon d'Or award in Zurich, Switzerland. This is only the second year of the award's existence after the FIFA and France Football Magazine merged their Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or awards.

Messi joins the ranks of Frenchman Zidane and Brazilian Ronaldo to be voted Player of the Year three times, as well as Michel Platini, the current UEFA president, who won the old Ballon d'Or three years straight. The latter said that Messi needed to add a World Cup trophy to be considered the best of all time.

Messi received the support of 48 percent of the votes, with his team mate Xavi Hernadez on 9%. In second place was Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, who was the 2008 Player of the Year, but whose style is very different from the modest Messi.

After receiving the award Messi wanted to thank the other players and staff at FC Barcelona, including the coach Pep Guardiola who was awarded the Coach of the Year trophy ahead of Sit Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid. Ironically Guardiola has been tipped to replace Ferguson at Manchester United next season.

Messi went on to tell the gala's audience that he wanted to share the award with Xavi as he considered that he deserved it as much as he did and how much he enjoyed playing along side him. Contrast that with Ronaldo, who you could never imagine thanking anyone for anything.

Ferguson was also keen to add on the praise, saying that Messi was as good as any other player and could play in any generation of football. He also praised FC Barcelona, who undoubtedly benefit from having Leo Messi on their side.

Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe, Argentina in 1987 and joined FC Barcelona in 2000 at the age of 13. He suffered a hormone problem as a child which prevented him from growing normally and the economic crisis in Argentina at the time meant neither his parents nor his club at the time could afford the treatment. Part of the deal with FC Barcelona was that they foot his medical bills in for treatment in Spain.