Paris
\nParis St-Germain and Argentina forward Lionel Messi won the Ballon d\u2019Or – awarded to the best footballer of the year – for a record seventh time.
\nMessi, 34, helped his country win the Copa America, his first international honour, and has scored 40 goals in 2021 – 28 for Barcelona, four for Paris St-Germain and eight for Argentina.
\nBayern Munich and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski came second, Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho was third and Real Madrid\u2019s French striker Karim Benzema finished fourth.
\nThe Ballon d\u2019Or is voted for by 180 journalists from around the world, although there was no award in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
\nEither Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo (five wins) collected the award every year from 2008 to 2019, apart from in 2018 when Croatia midfielder Luka Modric won it.
\nMessi had already won the trophy more times than any other player and his seventh success comes after wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s incredible to be here again,\u201d he said at the ceremony, held at Paris\u2019s Theatre du Chatelet.
\n\u201cTwo years ago I thought it was the last time. People were starting to ask me when I was going to retire but now I\u2019m here in Paris and very happy.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a special year for me with this Copa America title. It meant a lot to win [1-0 against Brazil in the final] at the Maracana stadium and I was so happy to celebrate with the people from Argentina.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the best year of my life – I\u2019ve had a long career – but it was a special one with the title with Argentina after the tough times and the criticism.\u201d
\nMessi also had warm words for the runner-up, 33-year-old Poland captain Lewandowski.
\n\u201cI wanted to say to Robert that it was an honour to go up against him,\u201d said Messi. \u201cHe deserved to win it last year.\u201d
\nLewandowski scored 53 goals in all competitions in 2021 for Bayern and was awarded the Striker of the Year prize, a new award that was only announced hours before the ceremony began.
\nParis St-Germain\u2019s Gianluigi Donnarumma, who helped Italy win Euro 2020, won the Yashin Trophy for best goalkeeper, while Champions League winners Chelsea were named Club of the Year.
\nBarcelona midfielder Pedri, 19, won the Kopa Trophy for the best player aged under 21, with England internationals Jude Bellingham, Mason Greenwood and Bukayo Saka coming second, fifth and sixth respectively.
\nFourteen of the 30 players shortlisted for the Ballon d\u2019Or currently play in the Premier League.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris Paris St-Germain and Argentina forward Lionel Messi won the Ballon d\u2019Or – awarded to the best footballer of the year – for a record seventh time. Messi, 34, helped his country win the Copa America, his first international honour, and has scored 40 goals in 2021 – 28 for Barcelona, four for Paris St-Germain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1064,808,1112],"class_list":{"0":"post-230341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ballon","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-lionel-messi"},"yoast_head":"\n