Messi Wins Ballon d'Or

Congratulations to Lionel Messi who was awarded this year’s Ballon d’Or by an impressive margin, scoring 473 points to second place Ronaldo’s 233 points.

The award is decided by a poll of world football journalists from a shortlist of 30 players. The highest placed Premier League star was Wayne Rooney in eighth position, followed by Drogba and Gerrard who were ninth and tenth respectively. Michael Owen was the last Englishman to win the award back in 2001.

Ballon d'Or standings:

1. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona) 473 pts

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Man United & Real Madrid) 233 pts

3. Xavi (Spain, Barcelona) 170 pts

4. Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona) 149 pts

5. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, Barcelona & Inter Milan) 75 pts

6. Kaka (Brazil, AC Milan & Real Madrid) 58 pts

7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Inter Milan & Barcelona) 50 pts

8. Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United) 35 pts

9. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea) 33 pts

10. Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool) 32 pts

11. Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool) 22 pts

12. Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal) 13 pts

13. Edin Dzeko (Bosnia, VfL Wolfsburg) 12 pts

14. Ryan Giggs (Wales, Manchester United) 11 pts

15. Thierry Henry (France, Barcelona) 9 pts

16 Luis Fabiano (Brazil, Sevilla) 8 pts

16 Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United) 8 pts

16 Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid) 8 pts

19. Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Atletico Madrid) 7 pts

20 Yoann Gourcuff (France, Bordeaux) 6 pts

21 Andrei Arshavin (Russia, Arsenal) 5 pts

21 Julio Cesar (Brazil, Inter Milan) 5 pts

21 Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea) 5 pts

24 Maicon (Brazil, Inter) 4 pts

25 Diego (Brazil, Werder Bremen & Juventus) 3 pts

26 David Villa (Spain, Valencia) 2 pts

26 John Terry (England, Chelsea) 2 pts

28 Franck Ribery (France, Bayern Munich) 1 pts

28 Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast, Barcelona) 1 pts

30 Karim Benzema (France, Lyon & Real Madrid) 0 pts

Previous Ballon d'Or winners:

1956 - Stanley Matthews (England), 1957 - Alfredo di Stefano (Spain), 1958 - Raymond Kopa (France), 1959 - Di Stefano, 1960 - Luis Suarez (Spain), 1961 - Omar Sivori (Italy), 1962 - Josef Masopust (Czechoslovakia), 1963 - Lev Yashin (USSR), 1964 - Denis Law (Scotland), 1965 - Eusebio (Portugal), 1966 - Bobby Charlton (England), 1967 - Florian Albert (Hungary), 1968 - George Best (Northern Ireland), 1969 - Gianni Rivera (Italy), 1970 - Gerd Mueller (West Germany), 1971 - Johan Cruyff (Netherlands), 1972 - Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany), 1973 - Cruyff, 1974 - Cruyff, 1975 - Oleg Blokhin (USSR), 1976 - Beckenbauer, 1977 - Allan Simonsen (Denmark), 1978 - Kevin Keegan (England), 1979 - Keegan, 1980 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (West Germany), 1981 - Rummenigge, 1982 - Paolo Rossi (Italy), 1983 - Michel Platini (France), 1984 - Platini, 1985 - Platini, 1986 - Igor Belanov (USSR), 1987 - Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), 1988 - Marco van Basten (Netherlands), 1989 - Van Basten, 1990 - Lothar Matthaeus (Germany), 1991 - Jean-Pierre Papin (France), 1992 - Van Basten, 1993 - Roberto Baggio (Italy), 1994 - Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), 1995 - George Weah (Liberia), 1996 - Matthias, Sammer (Germany), 1997 - Ronaldo (Brazil), 1998 - Zinedine Zidane (France), 1999 - Rivaldo (Brazil), 2000 - Luis Figo (Portugal), 2001 - Michael Owen (England), 2002 - Ronaldo, 2003 - Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic), 2004 - Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine), 2005 - Ronaldinho (Brazil), 2006 - Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), 2007 - Kaka (Brazil), 2008 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).

PFA Award Nominees Named

Man Utd players dominate the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award with 5 of the 6 named players for the senior award.

The Nominees
Edwin van der Sar - Man Utd
Rio Ferdinand - Man Utd
Nemanja Vidic - Man Utd
Ryan Giggs - Man Utd
Christiano Ronaldo - Man Utd
Steven Gerrard - Liverpool

If this list had of been published 3 or 4 weeks ago I would have said that Nemanja Vidic would probably have won, now I am not so sure. In recent weeks, Steven Gerrard has been the best performer of the above - has he peaked at the right time?

The PFA Young Player of the Year nominees were also announced.

The Nominees
Ashley Young - Aston Villa
Gabriel Agbonlaghor - Aston Villa
Stephen Ireland - Man City
Jonny Evans - Man Utd
Rafael da Silva - Man Utd
Aaron Lennon - Tottenham

In my opinion it will be between the two Aston Villa players, but possibly Agbonlaghor will just shade it from Ashley Young.