2009 Ballon d'Or | |
Current Awards: | --> |
Location: | Paris, France |
Country: | France |
Presenter: | France Football |
Award1 Type: | Won by |
Award1 Winner: | Lionel Messi (1st award) |
Previous: | 2008 |
Main: | Ballon d'Or |
Next: | 2010 |
The 2009 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in the world as judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded to Lionel Messi of Barcelona on 1 December 2009.[1]
Messi won the award by a then record margin, 240 points ahead of 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Xavi 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 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.