Lionel Messi said winning the Copa America with Argentina might have been the determining factor in him claiming the men’s Ballon d’Or prize for a seventh time after a turbulent year, as Spain’s Alexia Putellas took the women’s award.
Now 34, Messi pipped much-fancied rivals such as Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema to take the award in a glittering ceremony in Paris on Monday, the city he now calls home after leaving boyhood club Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in August.
Despite his tearful goodbye from Barcelona and his relatively underwhelming start to life in France, the jury of journalists from around the world rewarded him in particular for captaining Argentina to their first major international title since 1993.
Photo: Reuters
“Two years ago I thought I was coming into my final years, but here I am again back here,” said Messi, who won the last edition of the Ballon d’Or in 2019 before last year’s awards were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Messi also won in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015.
“People were starting to ask me when I was going to retire, but now I am here in Paris and I am very happy,” he said at the Chatelet Theatre in central Paris, where he was joined by his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, and their three children.
Photo: AFP
“I don’t know how many more years I have left, but I hope there will be many because I am really enjoying myself this year,” he said. “What I achieved with Argentina was a dream come true. I think I won this trophy thanks to what we did at the Copa America, so I dedicate it to my teammates.”
Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the final in Rio de Janeiro as Messi won a major title with his country for the first time.
He also scored 38 goals in 48 games in his final season with Barcelona and won the Copa del Rey.
However, Messi has played just 11 times and scored four goals for PSG since joining the French club, and there was a feeling that this year might see a different winner.
Poland striker Lewandowski would have been a shoe-in last year, when he scored 45 goals in 37 games for Bayern Munich, only for the awards to be canceled.
He ended last season with a remarkable 41 Bundesliga goals, but had to settle for second place in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, which is organized by France Football magazine and voted for by a panel of journalists from around the world.
Lewandowski instead was given a consolation prize for the year’s best goal-scorer and received glowing praise from Messi.
“I wanted to say to Robert that it was an honor to go up against him. He deserved to win it last year,” Messi said.
Midfielder Jorginho, who won the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea and UEFA Euro 2020 with Italy, came third, followed by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and another Chelsea player, N’Golo Kante.
Five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo came sixth. He was absent from the ceremony.
Between them, Messi and Ronaldo have won 12 of the last 13 editions of the Ballon d’Or with the exception coming in 2018 when Luka Modric claimed the prize.
This is just the third year that a women’s Ballon d’Or has been awarded, with Putellas following in the footsteps of Norway’s Ada Hegerberg, who won in 2018, and the US’ 2019 World Cup superstar Megan Rapinoe.
Spain international Putellas, 27, captained Barcelona to victory in this year’s UEFA Women’s Champions League, scoring a penalty in the final as her side hammered Chelsea 4-0.
She also won a Spanish league and cup double with Barca, the club she joined as a teenager in 2012 and who are fast becoming the dominant force in the women’s game.
Her Barcelona and Spain teammate Jennifer Hermoso was second, with Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia coming in third.
“I am sure I won’t be the last Barcelona player to win the prize. This is just the beginning,” said Putellas, who in August was named player of the year by European soccer’s governing body UEFA.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS