LEAD: Messi and Sawa winner of FIFA Ballon d'Or awards

By Peter Auf der Heyde Jan 9, 2012, 19:18 GMT

Zurich - Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi was on Monday named winner of the FIFA World Player for the third successive year, while the women's award went to the captain of Japan's World Cup winning team Homare Sawa.

The 24-year-old, who made history by becoming the first Argentine player to win the award in 2009, beat off team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.

The award, announced at a glamorous gala in the Kongresshaus in Zurich, crowns a successful year for Messi, who won the Spanish league, the Champions League, the World Club Cup, as well as the Spanish and UEFA Super Cups with Barcelona.

The forward, who received the trophy from former winner Ronaldo, received 47.88 per cent of the vote, beating Ronaldo, who was second with 21.60 per cent. Xavi picked up 9.23 per cent of the vote.

'It is a huge pleasure. It is the third time and it is a huge honour and I would like to share this award with my team-mates both in Barcelona and Argentina.

'I want to share this also with my team-mate Xavi. It is the fourth time we are here together and it is an honour to play together on the pitch,' Messi said.

Sawa denied Brazilian Marta a sixth successive triumph.

The 33-year-old, who received her award from popstar Shakira, is the first-ever Asian winner of a World Player award.

She beat Marta into second place by picking up 28.51 per cent of the votes, while the Brazilian received 17.28.

The coaches awards went to Japan's Norio Sasaki, who won the FIFA World Coach Women's Football award, while Messi's Barcelona coach Pep Guardialo took the male award.

The awards are voted for by the coaches and captains of the world's national teams, as well as international media.

In his opening speech FIFA president Joseph Blatter acknowledged that it had been a difficult year for football. 'With a family of 300 million, there are bound to be some devils amongst them.

'There are a lot of devils, some very big ones, but we are determined to steer the ship back into clear and clean waters,' he said.