The most prestigious individual award - FIFA Ballon d'Or - was awarded in a glittering ceremony in Zurich on Monday evening.
Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo were in the running to win the Golden Ball.
It was Messi who picked up the award for an unprecedented fourth year in a row.
Along with the men's category, the best women footballer in the world in 2012 was announced on Monday, and so was the Coach of the Year and the FIFA/FIFPro World XI.
Read how the evening unfolded in our live coverage below.
Hello and welcome to Sports Mole’s live coverage of the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or gala. The ceremony is already underway in Zurich and you can follow it live here on this page.
Ruud Gullit and Kay Murray are the hosts for tonight’s event in Zurich, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. As usual with such events, it is very colourful and the build-up is really wonderful.
However, we are here for the ‘real stuff’, that is, the awards. A number of top awards are on offer today and let us now go through them one-by-one.
The biggest award of the evening, of course, is in the men’s category. Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta are among the three shortlisted nominees - the third one is Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the women’s category, we have Marta of Brazil, Alex Morgan of the USA and her compatriot Abby Wambach.
There are also Ballon d’Ors for the coaches in both the men’s game and the women’s games. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque, former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid are the three candidates in the men’s category, while Bruno Bini, Norio Sasaki and Pia Sundhage are the three nominees in the women’s game.
BREAKING NEWS: FIFA FIFPro World XI has just been announced!
FIFA FIFPro World XI: Iker Casillas; Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Andres Iniesta; Lionel Messi, Radamel Falcao, Cristiano Ronaldo
There you go, the first award is out of the way. We have seven more awards: the FIFA Puskas Award will be awarded for the best goal in the world in 2012; the FIFA Presidential Award will be “bestowed upon a person or institution that has made a superlative contribution to football without seeking to monopolise the limelight”. Of course, there will also be the FIFA Fair Play Award.
Going back to FIFA FIFPro World XI 2012, no surprises there really. All of the players deserve to be in the team.
Now we move on to the awards for the coaches of the year. First up is the award for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football. The nominees are: Bruno Bini of France, Japan’s Norio Sasaki and Pia Sundhage of Sweden are the three nominees in the women’s game.
BREAKING NEWS Pia Sundhage wins the award for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football. The announcement is made by Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Sundhage is the Swedish coach of the USA Women's team.
Sundhage actually sings to thank the people who have helped her win the award. Quite fun!
Now to the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football. Vicente del Bosque, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are the three nominees.
BREAKING NEWS Spain coach Vicente del Bosque wins the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football.
Del Bosque led Spain to Euro 2012 triumph and that is why he is adjudged as the best coach in the world over the past 12 months. Again, no surprise there.
Next up is the 2012 FIFA Presidential Award. FIFA president Sepp Blatter will himself do the honours of presenting the prize to the “person or institution that has made a superlative contribution to football without seeking to monopolise the limelight”.
BREAKING NEWS German legend Franz Beckenbauer wins the 2012 FIFA Presidential Award.
Beckenbauer: “I have received a number of awards over the years as a manager and a player. But to get the 2012 FIFA President Award award is unique and for this reason I would like to thank the president for keeping me in mind.”
Cristiano Ronaldo had already been introduced in depth, and now the second nominee for 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or Andres Iniesta is being introduced. Soon Lionel Messi will be introduced. Not that he needs any introduction...
Now it is time for the 2012 FIFA Fair Play award. Eskisehirspor, the Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF) and the Guatemalan Football Association are the three candidates.
BREAKING NEWS The Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF) wins the 2012 FIFA Fair Play Award.
The UFF finished as winners of the 2012 AFC Fair Play Association of the Year award. They collected over 498.84 points over the year,
Now to the 2012 FIFA Puskas Award. Radamel Falcao, Neymar and Miroslav Stoch are the three candidates for the award.
BREAKING NEWS Miroslav Stoch wins the 2012 FIFA Puskas Award. His goal for Fenerbahce against Genclerbirligi on March 3, 2012 is adjudged as the best goal in 2012.
So we have two more awards to be decided. Amy Macdonald is now going to sing ‘Slow it Down’ as we take a ‘musical break’ before we get to know who wins this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or award for both men and women’s football.
Now it is time for the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award. Marta of Brazil and American duo Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach are the three nominees.
The award for the women’s award will be presented by American female footballing legend Hope Solo.
BREAKING NEWS Abby Wambach is the winner of the 2012 FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award.
Wambach says that she “did not expect” to receive this award, so she did not prepare a speech. She thanks her teammates, medical staff, coach and family for helping her win the prestigious award. It is a wonderful speech in the end, to be honest. So well done, Abby Wambach!
Now to the big one - THE BIG ONE. Italian legend and World Cup-winner Fabio Cannavaro will present the award to the best male player in the world in 2012.
It is really tense now as the envelope containing the name of the player is handed to Cannavaro.
BREAKING NEWS Barcelona forward Lionel Messi wins the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or.
Messi: “Good evening. To tell the truth, it is really unbelievable to get the award for the fourth successive year. I would like to recognise my colleagues at Barcelona - it is really proud to play alongside you... I am sorry, I am so nervous.. I would like to thank my friends, my family, my wife and my son.”
Everyone rises from their seats to applaud Messi, who wins the most prestigious individual award in world football for an unprecedented fourth year in a row. And the Argentine is truly lost for words.
That brings an end to the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’Or gala this evening. I hope that you enjoyed our live coverage of the event here on Sports Mole. Have a good evening and it’s goodbye from me for now.
