Lionel Messi of Argentina, FIFA World Player of the Year holds his FIFA Ballon d'Or 2010 trophy during the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2010 soccer awards ceremony in Zurich, Jan 10, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

1. The first ever FIFA Ballon d'Or award, which has merged the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the France Football's Ballon d'Or award was crowned to Lionel Messi on January 10.

The Barcelona football player was elected from a list of three nominees and the other two are Andres Iniesta and Xavi, both Spanish football players and teammates with Messi in Barcelona. According to FIFA, Messi had obtained 22.65 percent of the votes, ahead of Andres Iniesta at 17.36 percent, and Xavi at 16.48 percent.