Lionel Messi\u00a0won the eighth Ballon d\u2019Or of his remarkable career, while Spain\u2019s World Cup-winning star Aitana Bonmati took the women\u2019s prize at a glittering ceremony in Paris.<\/p>\n
For Messi, the trophy awarded to him on Monday rewards, above all else, his inspirational performances at last year\u2019s World Cup in Qatar, when he\u00a0dragged Argentina to victory, scoring seven goals and being named the\u00a0tournament\u2019s best player.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s prize seemed even more clear cut, as Bonmati was rewarded for starring as\u00a0Spain won the Women\u2019s World Cup\u00a0in Australia in August.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old midfielder was named the\u00a0best player at the Women\u2019s World Cup\u00a0as the Spanish team overcame off-field turbulence, including protests against their national federation and coach Jorge Vilda, to lift the trophy.<\/p>\n
Source: Aljazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lionel Messi\u00a0won the eighth Ballon d\u2019Or of his remarkable career, while Spain\u2019s World Cup-winning star Aitana Bonmati took the women\u2019s prize at a glittering ceremony in Paris. For Messi, the trophy awarded to him on Monday rewards, above all else, his inspirational performances at last year\u2019s World Cup in Qatar, when he\u00a0dragged Argentina to victory, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":142623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n