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Subject: Messi won the Ballon d'Or trophy in Zurich on Monday as the world's best player in 2015, ending Cristiano Ronaldo's two-year hold on soccer's top individual honor
Excerpt: English text from the archived bilingual edition · Chinese edition
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Messi won the Ballon d'Or trophy in Zurich on Monday as the world's best player in 2015, ending Cristiano Ronaldo's two-year hold on soccer's top individual honor
"It's incredible that it's my fifth," said the 28-year-old Barcelona and Argentina forward, who won four straight FIFA awards from 2009-12
Messi earned his record-extending fifth after being runner-up to his great rival for the past two years
"It's a very special moment for me to be back here on the stage," Messi said in Spanish in his acceptance speech, "after being there in the audience watching Cristiano win."
Five major titles for Barcelona last year -- leaving none for Ronaldo's Real Madrid -- brought the golden ball back into Messi's hands
Messi got 41.33 percent of total voting points in a 23-candidate ballot. Ronaldo received 27.76 percent and third-place Neymar, Messi's Barcelona teammate from Brazil, got 7.86 percent. Voting was by national team captains and coaches, plus invited journalists, from FIFA member countries
As usual, Argentina captain Messi and Portugal captain Ronaldo ignored each other on their own ballot papers. Messi voted for three Barcelona teammates and Ronaldo listed three Madrid colleagues
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