It was yet another hour of glory for fleet-footed Argentina star Lionel Messi as he minutes ago won the FIFA Footballer of the Year Award for an unprecedented fourth time.

The 25 years old Barcelona of Spain forward beat Barcelona teammate Andreas Iniesta and Real Madrid’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo to cart home the prize during an exciting FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala at Zurich’s Kongresshaus.

Prior to today’s ceremony, soccer pundits had been debating who between Messi and Ronaldo deserves the award. While Ronaldo performs creditably for both club and country and helped Real Madrid to dethrone Barcelona as Spanish La Liga champions last season, Messi (shown in photo) has failed to replicate club success at national level. As it turned out, football experts across the world involved in the selection process chose to give it to the Argentine.

The FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year Award went to Abby Wambach, who has 152 goals in 198 appearances for the USA Women’s side.