Barcelona's Messi wins Ballon D'Or

Paris: Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi was awarded the 2009 Ballon D'Or, French magazine France Football said on its website on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old became the first Ballon D'Or winner from Argentina, eclipsing runner-up and last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo by a record 240-point margin.

The award's 96 jurors gave Messi 473 points out of a possible 480, a near unanimous verdict, the magazine said.

The win caps a brilliant year for the soft-spoken left-footer, who helped Barcelona to a Champions League title with nine goals, as well as bagging six in the King's Cup and 23 in the league.

The gong, formerly known as the European Footballer of the Year award, was voted on by journalists from across the world.

The 22-year-old is blessed with the same masterly ball control and burst of pace as the great Diego Maradona and his goal against Getafe in a King's Cup match in April 2007 was almost a replica of the former Argentina captain's spectacular solo effort against England in the 1986 World Cup.

Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe on June 24, 1987.

Early career

• Joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old in 2000 and shone in the youth ranks before then-coach Frank Rijkaard gave him his senior debut at the age of 16 in a friendly against Porto in November 2003.
• Led Argentina to glory at the 2005 World Youth Championship in Netherlands, scoring two penalties in a 2-1 final victory over Nigeria. Like Maradona before him, ended the tournament with the best player and top scorer trophies.
• Became a Spanish citizen in September 2005.

Hitting the heights

• He made his debut for Argentina in a friendly against Hungary in August 2005, the same opponents Maradona made his debut against as a 16-year-old. Messi though was sent off less than a minute after going on as a substitute, for elbowing a defender who had pulled his shirt.
• A bureaucratic argument over whether he could be classed as a European Union player meant he did not represent Barcelona in a competitive game until October 2005. He went on to score six goals in 17 appearances as the club won La Liga for the second year in a row.
• Faced a race against time to make the 2006 World Cup and played only a bit-part role in the tournament. Coach Jose Pekerman was heavily criticised for leaving him on the bench as Argentina were knocked out in the quarter-finals by hosts Germany after a penalty shootout.
• Missed three months of 2006-07 season after breaking a bone in his foot but returned to score a brilliant hat-trick against Real Madrid in a 3-3 draw at the Nou Camp in March.
• Messi was sidelined by injury for six weeks early in 2008 after tearing a muscle in his left thigh in a Champions League match against Celtic.
• Led Argentina to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and came second in the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year vote behind Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who was then with Manchester United but is now at Real Madrid.
• In May 2009 he helped Barcelona win the Champions League final, heading the second goal in a 2-0 victory over Manchester United that sealed his club's third European Cup title after their triumphs in 1992 and 2006.
• In September Messi signed a two-year contract extension that will keep him at Barca until 2016.

List of Ballon d'Or winners: 1956: Stanley Matthews (England), 1957: Alfredo di Stefano (Spain), 1958: Raymond Kopa (France), 1959: Di Stefano, 1960: Luis Suarez (Spain), 1961: Omar Sivori (Italy), 1962: Josef Masopust, (Czechoslovakia), 1963: Lev Yashin (USSR), 1964: Denis Law (Scotland), 1965: Eusebio (Portugal), 1966: Bobby Charlton (England), 1967: Florian Albert (Hungary), 1968: George Best (Northern Ireland), 1969: Gianni Rivera (Italy), 1970: Gerd Mueller (West Germany), 1971: Johan Cruyff (Netherlands), 1972: Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany), 1973: Cruyff, 1974: Cruyff, 1975: Oleg Blokhin (USSR), 1976: Beckenbauer, 1977: Allan Simonsen (Denmark), 1978: Kevin Keegan (England), 1979: Keegan, 1980: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany), 1981: Rummenigge, 1982: Paolo Rossi (Italy), 1983: Michel Platini (France), 1984: Platini, 1985: Platini, 1986: Igor Belanov (USSR), 1987: Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), 1988: Marco van Basten (Netherlands), 1989: Van Basten, 1990: Lothar Matthaeus (Germany), 1991: Jean-Pierre Papin (France), 1992: Van Basten, 1993: Roberto Baggio (Italy), 1994: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), 1995: George Weah (Liberia), 1996: Matthias Sammer (Germany), 1997: Ronaldo (Brazil), 1998: Zinedine Zidane (France), 1999: Rivaldo (Brazil), 2000: Luis Figo (Portugal), 2001: Michael Owen (England), 2002: Ronaldo, 2003: Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic), 2004: Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine), 2005: Ronaldinho (Brazil), 2006: Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), 2007: Kaka (Brazil), 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), 2009: Lionel Messi (Argentina)