November 30, 2021
Argentina’s Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world for a record- seven times on Monday, beating Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho to lift football’s most prestigious trophy yet again.
Cristiano Ronaldo, his eternal rival placed a distant 6th position in a list that saw Harry Kane place 23rd after Riyad Mahrez on 20th, Ngolo Kante on 5th and Mohammed Salah on 5th.
Messi has the Copa America victory by Argentina to than for this honour which added to his 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019 Ballon d’Or trophies. He won the Copa America for the first time with his country last July.
“It’s incredible to be here again. Two years ago I thought it was the last time. Winning the Copa America was key”, Messi said at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
Messi, who joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer from Barcelona during the summer, collected 613 points, with Bayern Munich’s Lewandowski, named best striker on Monday, getting 580.
Jorginho, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and the European Championship with Italy, ended up third on 460, ahead of France’s Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante in fourth and fifth places respectively.
Those who vote for Ballon d’Or winners are national team coaches, national team captains and journalists.
2021 Ballon d’Or: Top 30 Players
1st – Lionel Messi
2nd – Robert Lewandowski
3rd – Jorginho
4th – Karim Benzema
5th – N’Golo Kante
6th – Cristiano Ronaldo
7th – Mohamed Salah
8th – Kevin De Bruyne
9th – Kylian Mbappe
10th – Gianluigi Donnarumma
11th – Erling Haaland
12th – Romelu Lukaku
13th – Giorgio Chiellini
14th – Leonardo Bonucci
15th – Raheem Sterling
16th – Neymar
17th – Luis Suarez
18th – Simon Kjaer
19th – Mason Mount
20th – Riyad Mahrez
21st – Lautaro Martinez & Bruno Fernandes
23rd – Harry Kane
24th – Pedri
25th – Phil Foden
26th – Gerard Moreno, Ruben Dias & Nico Barrella
29th – Cesar Azpilicueta & Luka Modric
