Barcelona's Messi named World Player of the Year

ZURICH: Argentina striker Lionel Messi current playing from Barcelona Club, Spain FIFA crownedWorld Player of the year. He defeated last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo and others football icons. Messi, whose goals this year helped Barcelona win the Champions League final and World Club Cup final, thus succeeds Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo as the world's top player, as voted by national team captains and coaches. Messi has played a huge role in the recent success of Spanish giants Barcelona, who have won a total of six trophies in the past season including the Champions League title and the World Club Cup trophy last week. The Argentine forward's talents were given the ultimate thumbs-up earlier this month when he was voted the winner of the Ballon d'Or for the European Footballer of the Year.