Premier League - Ronaldo awarded Ballon d'Or
Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been awarded the Ballon d'Or after inspiring the club to a Champions League and Premier League double this year.
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi came second and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres third in a poll of 96 journalists from all over the world organised by France Football.
The 23-year-old Ronaldo follows former United greats Denis Law (1964), Bobby Charlton (1966) and George Best (1968) as a winner of the prize previously known as the European Footballer of the Year award. He scored 42 goals for the club last season.
Ronaldo earned 446 points with Messi on 281 points and Torres on 179.
"It's one of the most beautiful days in my life. I've been dreaming of this trophy since I was a child," said Ronaldo, who will be officially presented with the trophy during a French TV show on Sunday.
Ronaldo is the third Portuguese player to win the award after Eusebio in 1965 and Luis Figo in 2000.
"I was not scared because I was aware of what I had done in the season," Ronaldo added.
"Thank you to my team-mates, who helped me be the best, thank you to those who set me up for these goals.
"I will now work to be good on Saturday. This morning, arriving at the training session, I will be the same lad. What is sure is that I want to win again because it is so good."
He also became this year only the second player to win England's Footballer of the Year award in successive seasons.
However, he failed to make an impact at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland as Portugal bowed out to eventual runners-up Germany in the quarter-finals.
During a pre-season dominated by speculation about a move to Real Madrid, Ronaldo underwent ankle surgery but he has scored eight goals in 11 league games since returning to action in September.
Ronaldo, who was second to Brazil playmaker Kaka last year, is the first Portuguese to win the award since Figo and the first Premier League player since Michael Owen in 2001.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was the top-ranked English player in 10th position, ahead of Wayne Rooney (13th) and Frank Lampard (15th).
Torres was one of seven Spanish players to win votes, as the Euro 2004-winners dominated the list.
Full results:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Manchester Utd), 446 points
2. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), 281 pts
3. Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool), 179 pts
4. Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid), 133 pts
5. Xavi Hernandez (Spain, Barcelona), 97 pts
6. Andrei Arshavin (Russia, Zenit St Petersburg), 64 pts
7. David Villa (Spain, Valencia), 55 pts
8. Kaka (Brazil, Milan), 31 pts
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Internazionale), 30 pts
10 Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool), 28 pts
11. Marcos Senna (Spain, Villarreal),16 pts.
12. Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo, Arsenal), 12 pts.
13. Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United), 11 pts.
14. Sergio Aguero (Argentina, Atletico Madrid), 10 pts.
15. Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea), 8 pts.
16. Franck Ribery (France, Bayern Munich), 7 pts.
17. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, Barcelona), 6 pts.
18. Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, Juventus), 5 pts.
19. Michael Ballack (Germany, Chelsea), Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Arsenal), 4 pts.
21. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea), Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid), Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United), 3 pts.
24. Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands, Manchester United), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands, Real Madrid), 2 pts.
No votes: Karim Benzema (France, Lyon), Pepe (Portugal, Real Madrid), Luca Toni (Italy, Bayern Munich), Rafael van der Vaart (Netherlands, Real Madrid), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia, CSKA Moscow).
Reuters