Messi at the FIFA Gala:

Here is Lionel receiving his deserved trophy:



This was an historic year for Messi: he won six team trophies with Barca and was named the best player in the world by FourFourTwo Magazine, France Football (Ballon d'Or), FIFA (World Player of the Year) and by you the fans at Bestplayerintheworld.com.

Maybe someday we will have a gala too.

Can't wait to get the fan voting starting for 2010.

Who will be next year's best player?

Could it be Messi again? Could Ronaldo regain his title? Will it be an exciting new player who takes over the football world?

It will be fun watching the players play and the votes add up.

It's official - Messi wins FIFA World Player of the Year Award for 2009:

Messi's status has been obvious to us for a long time at bestplayerintheworld.com where fans around the world have had the Barcelona magician at the top of our poll:

Here is where Messi stood in our poll as of 2:00pm Pacific Time on Monday December 21, 2009:
1.Lionel Messi 44% (1,761 votes)

Cristiano Ronaldo 21% (826 votes)
Steven Gerrard 6% (219 votes)
Andres Iniesta 4% (146 votes)
Kaka 3% (114 votes)
Fernando Torres 3% (103 votes)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic 3% (119 votes)
Frank Lampard 2% (78 votes)
Wayne Rooney 2% (78 votes)
Andrei Arshavin 2% (64 votes)
Ronaldinho 2% (65 votes)
Cesc Fabregas 1% (46 votes)
Didier Drogba 1% (39 votes)
Xavi Hernandez 1% (34 votes)
Nemanja Vidic 1% (25 votes)
Samuel Eto'o 1% (34 votes)
Franck Ribery 1% (27 votes)
Luka Modric 1% (24 votes)
David Villa 1% (21 votes)
Robinho <1% (19 votes)
Iker Casillas <1% (17 votes)
Arjen Robben <1% (14 votes)
Karim Benzema <1% (15 votes)
Sergio (Kun) Aguero <1% (11 votes)
Petr Cech <1% (10 votes)
Gianluigi Buffon <1% (11 votes)
Ashley Young <1% (11 votes)
Emmanuel Adebayor <1% (8 votes)
Rio Ferdinand <1% (1 votes)
Mauro Matias Zarate <1% (1 votes)
Nani 0% (0 votes)
John Terry 0% (0 votes)
Juninho 0% (0 votes)
Arda Turan <1% (6 votes)
Carles Puyol 0% (0 votes)
Francesco Totti <1% (1 votes)
Antonio Valencia <1% (1 votes)
Marouane Chamakh 0% (0 votes)
Guiseppe Rossi 0% (0 votes)
Dimitar Berbatov 0% (0 votes)
Diego 0% (0 votes)
Juan Sebastian Veron 0% (0 votes)
Thierry Henry 0% (0 votes)
Other: 1% (31 votes)

Total Votes: 3,980

---

Here is how Soccernet.com reported Messi's trophy win at the FIFA Awards Gala:

"Lionel Messi was rewarded for a stunning year in which he helped Barcelona to an unprecedented six trophies by being named FIFA's World Player of the Year.

The Argentina forward, who headed the clinching goal against Manchester United in the Champions League final, also scored on Saturday to secure the Club World Cup for Barcelona against Estudiantes on Saturday.

The 22-year-old won the award for the first time, beating last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo, his two clubmates Andres Iniesta and Xavi and Brazil midfielder Kaka. He was presented with the trophy at a glittering awards gala in Zurich."