The great minds of international football, whoever they may be, have once again congregated and cast their votes for players they feel were the most outstanding over the course of the 2009 year.

Last year the award was unsurprisingly bestowed upon Christiano Ronaldo, however this year the Portuguese and now Real Madrid flyer has been quite comprehensively beaten by the star of Madrid's bitterest rivals, Lionel Messi. In fact Barcelona have 4 players in the worlds top 10, which can be backed up by their astonishing treble winning last season in which they were undoubtedly the worlds best team.

The top rated premier league player was Wayne Rooney, coming in at number 8. This has put smiles on many Spanish La Liga supporters who claim that the premier league is no longer the strongest league in the world. 

Other interesting placements include Nemanja Vidic beating John Terry by 10 places, 16th and 26th respectively; Fernando Torres not making the top 10 and Lampard not even in the top 20. 

Ballon d'Or Results:

1. Lionel Messi (Barca), 473 points.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real), 233.
3. Xavi (Barcelona), 170.
4. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), 149.
5. Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan), 75.
6. Kaka (Real Madrid), 58.
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barca), 50.
8. Wayne Rooney (Man United), 35.
9. Didier Drogba (Chelsea), 33.
10. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), 32.
11. Fernando Torres (Liverpool), 22.
12. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), 13.
13. Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg), 12.
14. Ryan Giggs (Man United), 11.
15. Thierry Henry (Barcelona), 9.
16. Luis Fabiano (Sevilla) 8.
(tie) Nemanja Vidic (Man United), 8.
(tie) Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), 8.
19. Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), 7.
20. Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), 6.
21. Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal), 5.
(tie) Julio Cesar (Inter), 5.
(tie) Frank Lampard (Chelsea), 5.
24. Maicon (Inter), 4.
25. Diego (Juventus), 3.
26. David Villa (Valencia)
(tie) John Terry (Chelsea), 2.
28. Franck Ribery (Bayern M), 1.
(tie) Yaya Toure (Barcelona), 1.
30. Karim Benzema (Real), 0

A few controversial results?