Lionel Messi has made history with his fourth Ballon d'Or victory.
The award was the culmination after a year in which the Argentine scored 91 goals in a year. This is the fourth straight in which Messi has won the award. The other nominees were Andres Iniesta of Spain and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal. He extended some praise to Iniesta and his Barcelona teammates before sending a special thanks to his fiancée and his new born son.
Messi received 41.6 percent of the vote, Ronaldo got 23.7 percent and Iniesta only managed 10.9 percent.
Other awards included the coach of the year award which was handed to Spanish national team coach Vicente Del Bosque. He was up against Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid and Josep Guardiola, the former boss of Barcelona in this category and reigned victorious after his historic championship at the Euro 2012.
The Best Starting Lineup of the year was also announced and featured Iker Casillas, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Marceloa, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Radamel Falcao, and Cristiano Ronaldo. That lineup is made up of three different teams Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Barcelona) in two different cities (Barcelona and Madrid). German legend Franz Beckenbauer won the FIFA Presidential award.
In the woman's categories, the player of the year was awarded to Abby Wambach. Wambach was a part of the Olympic medal winning squad in the summer of 2012. The other nominees in the category were Marta of Brazil and United States teammate Alex Morgan. United States keeper Hope Solo presented the award. USA Coach Phia Sundhage won the award for top coach and proceeded to sing upon receiving the award (video below).
Uzbekistan won the FIFA Fair Play Award for the low number of bookings in their leagues and clubs.
Colombian legend Carlos Valderrama was present at the ceremony and gave out the Puskas award for goal of the year. The winner was Miroslav Stoch for a volley goal from outside the box.