Lionel Messi sealed a great 2011 for him and FC Barcelona by winning his third straight Ballon d'Or in the gala held at Zurich, Switzerland. He bested fellow finalists Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi to win the award, garnering 47.88% of the vote. He follows French legend Michel Platini (1983-85) as the only winners of the award for three consecutive years.

The Argentine playmaker had an incredible season last year. In 55 appearances in all competitions, he scored 53 goals and issued 24 assists. Those resulted in the Catalan club netting four trophies; the Spanish Super Cup, the La Liga trophy, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. It could have been five if not for Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey. His form as of the moment remains stellar as well, with 31 goals in 28 appearances and 14 assists as they currently chase Real Madrid for the La Liga title.

In fact, you could see his greatness at a young age, as seen here when he was 10.

Meanwhile here are the other winners that were announced:

The Brazillian wunderkind Neymar won the FIFA Puskas award for the best goal of the year. If you can't remember, here is the goal itself.

The FIFA Women's World Cup winning squad of Japan hauled some nice trophies to take back home, as Nadeshiko captain Homare Sawa ended Marta's reign as the Female Player of the Year after her stellar World Cup campaign, while manager Norio Sasaki won as Coach of the Year for Women's Football. In addition, the Japanese Football Association won the Fair Play Award.

FC Barcelona's Pep Guardiola nabbed the Coach of the Year for Men's Football after the dominant year his team had. Fellow finalist Sir Alex Ferguson was honored for his contributions to the game with the FIFA Presidential Award. 2011 has been Sir Alex's 25th year in handling Manchester United, with over thirty trophies claimed. In addition, AS Gubbio's Simone Farina of Serie B, otherwise known as the whistleblower in the match-fixing scandal currently being investigated in Italy was honored.

Finally, the FIFA XI for 2011 was named. The lineup has a mostly Spanish feel as nine of the eleven players came from either Real Madrid or FC Barcelona.

Goalkeeper - Iker Casillas (Real Madrid & Spain)

Defenders - Dani Alves (FC Barcelona & Brazil), Gerard Piqué (FC Barcelona & Spain), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid & Spain) and Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United & Serbia)

Midfielders - Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid & Spain), Xavi (FC Barcelona & Spain) and Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona & Spain)

Attackers - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona & Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal) and Wayne Rooney (Manchester United & England)

Cover photo taken from here.