Lionel Messi won a football award.
Lionel Messi . Often considered the best player in the world and regarded by many as the greatest of all time , Messi is the only player in history to win five FIFA Ballon d'Or awards , four of which he won consecutively , and the first to win three European Golden Shoes . Despite being injury-prone during his early career , he established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years , finishing 2007 as a finalist for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award , a feat he repeated the following year . At 22 years old , Messi won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award by record voting margins .