Breaking News: Lionel Messi Wins Ballon d’Or Award For The Fifth Time

Just as many fans around the globe had expected or were expecting, the 2015 Ballon d’Or winner is Lionel Messi once again and this is another record set by the Argentine as he has now become the first and only player to have won the award five times after becoming the first and only player to have won the award four times in a row 2009-2012.

The FIFA event started with the award for FIFAPro XI which was announced by former Barcelona and Inter striker Samuel Eto'o. Lining up in a 4-3-3 formation this are the FIFAPro XI : Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich) Defenders: Thiago Silva (PSG), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Dani Alves (Barcelona) Midfielders: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Paul Pogba (Juventus) Forwards: Neymar (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Coach: Marco van Basten.

The Coach of the team had this to say concerning the set of players he would be managing “I think if you have a team with all these champions, as a coach it’s good to be quiet! Wish them good luck and enjoy themselves. They’re all winners, they know exactly what to do”. Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos also made history as he earned his place in the FIFAPron XI for a record of six times and here was what he said via twitter “Proud to make the #WorldXI for the sixth time. My thanks to my fellow pros for voting for me”.

Next up was the award for the Coach of the Year and just as many had predicted Barcelona head Coach Luis Enquire won the Men’s Coach of the Year. Enrique, in his first season at Barcelona, won La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey in 2014/15, he also won the Spanish Super Cup and Club World Cup later in the year. Barcelona technical secretary Robert Fernandez picked up the award on behalf of Enquire. USA women's national team coach Jill Ellis won the Women’s Coach of the Year for 2015. Ellis led the US Team to a World Cup victory in Canada in July, beating Japan 5-2 in the final.  Ellis said: “I really truly believe this is a team award. To FIFA, to our own federation, thank you for your continued belief in women's football”.

Jill Ellis Female Coach of the Year

The next award that was handed out the PUSKAS AWARD which is an award for the best goal of 2015 and this was won by Wendell Lira for his strike for Goianesia against Atletico-GO.  Lira finished off a fantastic team move with a sublime overhead kick back in March. After this award was the World Women's Player Of The Year which was won by Carli Lloyd of the Houston Dash and USA making her the only the third American to have won the award after Mia Hamm (2001-02) and Abby Wambach (2012). Lloyd said: “Wow. This has been a dream of mine since I started my journey with the national team. I want to thank Jill, the coaching staff and all the support staff, I wouldn't be standing up here without my team-mates, and we all know it took 23 players to win the World Cup in the summer”.

 Carli Lloyd Women's Player Of The Year

It was after this award that the moment the whole world was waiting for came, as Kaka arrived on stage to present the award for the World Men’s Player of the Year. Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi wins the Ballon d'Or for the fifth time ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar who came second and third respectively. These are the voting percentages for the final three: Lionel Messi had 41.3 per cent of all votes, Cristiano Ronaldo 28.7 per cent and Neymar 7.8 per cent. Messi had this to say concerning his Fitth Ballon d’Or “It is a very special moment for me to be back here on this stage, winning again another Ballon d’Or after being there in the audience watching Cristiano win. It’s incredible this is my fifth. It’s much more than anything I’ve dreamed of as a kid. I want to thank everyone who voted for me and I want to thank my team-mates. And lastly, I want to thank football in general for everything it has brought me. Both the bad and the good. Because it has made me learn and grow”.

  Lionel Messi wins the Ballon d'Or for the fifth time

Below are some amazing fact about most decorated player in football though he is yet to win the World Cup.

Messi is the only player to have won more than three FIFA Ballon d'Or awards, his latest success following his wins in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Messi scored 52 goals in all competitions for Barcelona and Argentina in 2015.

Messi has scored 430 career goals in all official competitions for Barcelona, having played in 503 games with average of 0.85 Goals per game and 28 Hat-tricks for Barcelona.

Messi has won 26 titles with Barcelona, a club record shared with Andres Iniesta.

Messi is La Liga highest goal scorer of all time with 295 La Liga goals 44 more than second-best Telmo Zarra.