And The Award Goes To....

FIFA announced their annual Player of The Year award today, with the winner being Barcelona forward Lionel Messi.

The Argentine Messi is one of just three players all-time to win this award in consecutive seasons. In his company are Brasileiros Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

He finished first with 22.65 percent of the vote in front of F.C. Barcelona teammates Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez. Barcelona has featured eight of the twenty winners for Player of The Year.

Messi, dubbed as Diego Maradona's successor as Argentina's most prized footballer, has 18 goals in 15 games so far this season for Barcelona and had 58 last year. He had a dissapointing 2010 World Cup, in which he was unable to put the ball to the back of the net, while Iniesta and Xavi led Spain to the World Cup title.

The Goal of the Year was this little gem from Turkish footballer Hamit Altintop:



Truly an amazing shot off the corner.

-Mitch