Barcelona's Lionel Messi has won the acclaimed Ballon d'Or award after being named European Footballer of the Year.
French magazine France Football said the Argentina forward beat 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo into second place by a massive margin - 473 points to 233.
Messi, 22, won the treble of Champions League, the Spanish championship and Spanish cup with Barcelona last season.
Third and fourth place in the voting were Messi's Barcelona team-mates, midfielders Xavi (170 points) and Andres Iniesta (149).
Striker Samuel Eto'o, who left Barcelona for Inter Milan during the close-season, was fifth.
Messi becomes the sixth Barcelona player to take the award but the first since Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho in 2005.
RECENT WINNERS :
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2000 - Luis Figo (Portugal),
2001 - Michael Owen (England),
2002 - Ronaldo,
2003 - Pavel Nedved (Czech Republic),
2004 - Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine),
2005 - Ronaldinho (Brazil),
2006 - Fabio Cannavaro (Italy),
2007 - Kaka (Brazil),
2008 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).
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