2009 Ballon d'Or
2009 Ballon d'Or | |
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![]() 2009 Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi | |
Date | 1 December 2009 |
Location | Paris, France |
Country | France |
Presented by | France Football |
Highlights | |
Won by | ![]() |
Website | www |
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.
Rankings
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Classement 2009". France Football (in French). Groupe Amaury. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2013.