Already considered one of soccer's greats at age 24, the Argentine became the first to win player of the year three times in a row Zurich was transformed into the football capital of the world on Monday night, as the men and women whose stars shone most brightly in 2011 were recognised at the prestigious FIFA Ballon d'Or gala. The beautiful game showed its glamorous side at a memorable, star-studded event during which Lionel Messi was again crowned the indisputable king of the sport. This year he will share his throne with a new queen, Homare Sawa receiving the honours pertaining to the women's game. Next to take centre stage was a veritable wealth of footballing talent, as the 11 players selected for the 2011 'dream team' -- Iker Casillas; Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Nemanja Vidic; Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Xavi; Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney -- received a standing ovation from the gallery. Every single one of them appeared immensely proud to be included in the FIFA/FIFPro World XI and to be handed their award by Pele. The photo for which they subsequently posed together is sure to have elicited a wishful sigh from every coach in attendance. An elite member of that group, Sir Alex Ferguson, seemed visibly touched as the Zurich Kongresshaus rose as one to applaud him, as he was presented with the FIFA Presidential Award for his 25 years of service on the Manchester United bench. "I have been a very, very lucky manager to have had such great players from the start all the way up until the present. You don't always win in football, but we at Manchester United always try to win," said the veteran Scottish coach. "Elite football is about results and winning," said FIFA president Sepp Blatter of Ferguson. "There is no one better at it than him." On a night in which coaching excellence was consistently recognised, Lothar Matthaus was given the task of presenting the 2011 FIFA Women's Football Coach of the Year trophy to Japan coach Norio Sasaki, who guided the Japan women's national team to their first FIFA Women's World Cup. The former Germany captain also had the honour of announcing the name of the FIFA Men's Football Coach of the Year award, which went to Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola. He was chosen ahead of Real Madrid's Jose Mourinho and Manchester United's Alex Ferguson. "I would like to share this award with Mr (Jose) Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. I would also like to thank all the people who, through the years, have helped build the magnificent, unbelievable club that is Barcelona," he said. President Junji Ogura and women's national team captain Sawa accepted the award on behalf of the Japanese Football Association, which received the accolade of best team spirit for the impressive courage shown by Japan as they recovered from the terrible earthquake and ensuing tsunami that devastated large parts of the nation on 11 March 2011. "It's a great honour for JFA to receive such a prestigious award from FIFA. We will do our best to continue to prepare in our activities. We are very proud in this award," said a moved Ogura. Brazil phenom Neymar's was named as the best goal of 2011. "I am so happy to be part of this party and to be competing with these two great players. I'm very grateful to God and to all you. Enjoy this party," said the delighted forward, upon learning the result. Fans voted online from a list of 10 and chose the goal by Neymar in his club Santos's 5-4 loss against Flamengo last July. FIFA Women's World Player of the Year 2011 was handed to Sawa of Japan who could not hide her excitement when she addressed the audience. Sawa ended Brazilian forward Marta's five-year reign as the top player. American Abby Wambach was a finalist. At around 8pm local time, the moment had come to crown the king of Planet Football. Brazil legend Ronaldo, the top goal scorer in the history of the FIFA World Cup and a three-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, took the applause of the public before calling on Messi, 24, to accept the FIFA Ballon d'Or Award for 2011. "It's a huge pleasure to win the third time, a big honour. I want to thank the teammates, players and coaches that voted for me. I want to thank my Barcelona and Argentina teammates. Without them this would have been impossible. But most of all, I want to share the award with Xavi: you deserve this as much as I do," said the happy recipient of the golden ball- shaped trophy. Messi scored 55 goals in 2011 for Barcelona, which won its third Champions League title in six seasons, and he had four goals for Argentina's national team. Barcelona won five trophies last year. Messi received 48 per cent of the points in votes cast by national team coaches and captains plus selected reporters. Cristiano Ronaldo finished second with 22 per cent and Xavi had nine per cent to finish third for the third straight year. A major international tournament victory is all that now eludes Messi. Guardiola and Ferguson agreed at an earlier news conference that Messi should be considered in the same elite category Pele, Diego Maradona and Alfredo di Stefano. "Now he can sit beside them," Guardiola said. Messi joined Michel Platini in winning the Ballon d'Or for three consecutive years, though the France great won from 1983-85 when only European players were eligible. Platini called Messi "a pearl," but said he must win soccer's biggest prize to rival Pele or Maradona. "Messi will always be great with or without (winning) a World Cup -- but the World Cup, it's something special," Platini said. "I think the World Cup will stay in the mind of the people." Dutch forwards Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten also received three Ballon d'Or awards. Before starting his victory streak, Messi was runner-up twice behind Brazil's Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. The only other three-time winners are Ronaldo (1996- 97, 2002) and Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000, 2003). The FIFA award was renamed last year when it merged with France Football's Golden Ball. Messi was outscored by Ronaldo in the Spanish league last season -- 40 to 31 -- but elevated his game in the biggest matches. Xavi described his teammate as "one of the best footballers in the history of the sport." "He's still young. I think he's probably going to break all the records that exist in the sport," Xavi said. US coach Jurgen Klinsmann voted Messi first, followed by Ronaldo and Diego Forlan. American captain Carlos Boacanegra had Messi first, followed by Xavi and Ronaldo. Paul Kennedy of Soccer America, the US media voter, had Messi first followed by Ronaldo and Xavi. Compiled from news agencies
