Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’Or for fifth time

In Sports
January 12, 2016

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best player for the fifth time. The 28-year-old Argentine had 41.33% of the vote, with Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo (27.76%) second and Barca’s Neymar (7.86%) third. Either Messi or Ronaldo, who became a three-time winner last year, have won the past eight awards.

Other Awards

United States midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, won the women’s award.
United States coach Jill Ellis was named women’s football world coach of the year after leading her country to World Cup glory in the summer.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique won the world coach of the year award after leading his side to five of the six trophies on offer in 2015.
Former Leeds and South Africa captain Lucas Radebe announced the winner of this year’s fair play award – all football clubs and organisations supporting refugees.

Messi’s 2015 in numbers

61 games, 52 goals and 26 assists.
A goal every 101 minutes and an assist every 202 minutes.
Best minutes-per-goal rate – 80 – of anyone scoring a minimum of 10 goals across Europe’s top five leagues during 2015.
Directly involved in 49 goals in La Liga – 34 scored and 15 assists – which was the joint-most with Ronaldo in 2015 across the top five European leagues.
Scored in all six club tournaments in 2015, as Barcelona won five of them.

Past Ballon d’Or winners