Messi wins 7th Ballon d’Or, check out the full list of winners

Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi has won a record-extending seventh Ballon d’Or, the prestigious award handed out the best player of the year. The diminutive attacker who switched camps during the summer transfer window to move from the Nou Camp to Parc de Prince clinched the prize ahead of several other top stars.

Messi led Barcelona to the Copa del Rey title in his final season in Spain before leading Argentina to the Copa America, his first-ever major international success with the national side having tasted heavy heartbreaks on the international front on several occasions.

Bayern Munich and Poland’s Robert Lewandoski who plundered in 53 goals for the Bavarians in the period under review came second but was consoled with the striker of the year award, a new prize that was introduced this year.

Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho emerged the third best at the ceremony for his role in clinching the UEFA Champions League for Chelsea and later his efforts at the middle in helping the Azzurri to the Euro 2020 glory at Wembley.

Karim Benzema of France and Real Madrid and his French compatriot and another of Chelsea’s midfielders N’Golo Kante completed the top five. Christiano Ronaldo placed sixth having failed to win anything huge with either at both the club or national side.

Other notable awards given out at the event were the Kopa Trophy for the best player aged under 21 which went to Barcelona prodigy Pedri with the youngster beating Englishman Jude Bellingham to the prize.

Gianluigi Donnarumma was handed the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper with the Italian beating other notable names such as Manuel Neuer, Jan Oblak (3rd), PSG teammate, Keylor Navas and Chelsea and Senegal’s Edouard Mendy who placed second.

Meanwhile, Chelsea also received another of the new awards introduced this year, the Club of the Year. The new award was announced hours before the event and Chelsea became the maiden recipients of the prize.