It was a record breaking night for the Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as he won the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s men best player for a sixth time in football history.
The 32-year-old Argentine’s first Ballon d’Or since 2015 and breaks the record of been the world’s best player for a fifth times comes after he scored 54 times for club and country in 2018/19, in which Barca won La Liga and Copa Del Rey final.
Liverpool forward, Virgil van Dijk was second after a wonderfully performance in his club record including Sadio Mane in fourth, as the only African player to clinch this position after several years.
Juventus and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award five times, in his absence was third in the voting category.
Megan Rapinoe, who was Golden Ball winner as USA claimed a second successive World Cup in 2019 named the world’s women best player of the year.
Liverpool keeper, Alisson won the inaugural Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper, ahead of Barcelona’s Germany international Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Brazilian compatriot Ederson of Manchester City.
Juventus Defender Matthijs de Ligt took the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best U-21 player.
The award Messi’s won means the Ballon d’Or award has been won by a player from Spain’s La Liga players in each of the last 11 years, including last year’s winner Luka Modric, who broke the 10-year Messi-Ronaldo long term reign on the prize.
After taking home the award for the sixth time, Messi has now surpassed Ronaldo, who clinched the honour on five occasions while at Manchester United and Real Madrid after missing out in the last year shortlisted favorites for his very first time.
These are all others on the list…