By Osagie Alonge
Last night, Monday, January 9, 2012, FC Barcelona striker Lionel Messi became the first FIFA player to win the Ballon d’Or title three times in a row.
The 24-year-old Argentine beat club teammate Xavi Hernandez and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo to win 2011 edition of the award.
‘It’s a huge honour’, Messi said as he received the trophy from past winner and football great Ronaldo.
Before the night, there had been only two other three-time winners – Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo (’96, ’97, ’02) and French player Zinedine Zidane (’98, ’00, ’03).
Other winners of the night included female footballer Homare Sawa of Japan who ended Brazilian forward Marta’s five-year run as Female Footballer of the year and Barcelonan manager Pep Guardiola as ‘Coach of the Year’.
Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson was honoured with a FIFA Presidential Award in recognition of his 25 years as manager at Old Trafford.