Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi was awarded the 2009 Ballon D’Or, French magazine France Football said on its website (www.francefootball.fr) on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old became the first Ballon D’Or winner from Argentina, eclipsing runner-up and last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo by a record 240-point margin.

The award’s 96 jurors gave Messi 473 points out of a possible 480, a near unanimous verdict, the magazine said.

The win caps a brilliant year for the soft-spoken left-footer, who helped Barcelona to a Champions League title with nine goals, as well as bagging six in the King’s Cup and 23 in the league, a total of 38 for the season.

The gong, formerly known as the European Footballer of the Year award, was voted on by journalists from across the world.

About Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi]; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who currently plays for La Liga’s Barcelona and the Argentine national team. Messi is considered to be one of the best football players of his generation, having received several Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21 and won the Ballon d’Or in 2009. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to football legend Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his “successor”.

About the Ballon d’Or
The “Ballon d’Or”, “The Golden Ball”, referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, is an annual association football award. It is presented to the player who has been considered to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. The award was conceived by France Football’s chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, who asked his colleagues to vote for the player of the year in Europe in 1956. The inaugural winner was Stanley Matthews of Blackpool.

List of Ballon d’Or (formerly European Footballer of the Year) 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)
2009 – Lionel Messi (Argentina)