| 2009 Ballon d'Or | |
|---|---|
 2009 Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi | |
| Date | 1 December 2009 |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Country | France |
| Presented by | France Football |
| Highlights | |
| Won by |  Lionel Messi (1st award) |
| Website | www |
The 2009 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in the world as judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded to Lionel Messi of Barcelona on 1 December 2009, the first of his record setting eight Ballon d'Or awards. [1]
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Messi won the award by a then record margin, 240 points ahead of 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Xavi was the second Barcelona player in the top three, finishing a further 63 points behind Ronaldo. Messi's win made him the first Argentine-born player to win the award since Omar Sívori in 1961; however, Sívori had taken Italian citizenship by that time and is recognised to have won the Ballon d'Or as an Italian player.
