91 reasons why Messi won Best Footballer award

Leonel Messi is for a record fourth time, the Best Footballer in the World, a title awarded to him today, otherwise known as FIFA Ballon d'Or. Cristiano Ronaldo was second. The American Abby Wambach won the women's prize. Alex Morgan (USA) was second.

The men's award comes as no surprise, since in 2012, Leonel Messi scored no less than 91 goals, breaking the forty-year-record of Gerd Müller and his fourth win places him above other golden names in the history of soccer who won the Ballon d'Or three times: Zinedine Zidane (France), Ronaldo (Brazil), Michel Platini (France), Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten (both Netherlands).

Born in Rosário, Argentina on June 24, 1987, Leonel Andrés Messi started his playing career at four years of age in Abanderado Grandoli, near his home before joining the youth teams of Newell's Old Boys and then Barcelona's youth teams in 2000. He loved up to the senior team at Barcelona in 2004, since when he has scored 288 goals in 355 appearances.

On the international arena, Messi scored 11 goals in 16 games for Argentina's Under-20s, the team in which he won the Under-20 World Championship, 2 goals in 5 appearances for the Argentina Olympic team in 2008 when Argentina won the Gold Medal and for the Senior team, 31 goals in 76 appearances.

Among the many titles he has won are the UEFA Champions League (3), Spanish Championship (5), Copa del Rey (2), Spanish Super Cup (6), UEFA Super Cup (2), FIFA World Club Championship (2).

In the women's prize, the striker Abby Wambach (USA) won the award, having helped her team to the Olympic Gold Medal in London,l scoring five goals in six games.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru