The awards are recognition for the starring role played by Messi in Barcelona’s treble triumph of Champions League, La Liga and Spanish Cup. They capped  a memorable year by beating River Plate to win the Club World Cup in Japan.

Barcelona had three of the top four players, with Messi’s team-mates Neymar and Luis Suarez finishing third and fourth respectively, with Andres Iniesta making it four players in the top seven.

The treble win for Barcelona was a repeat of their clean sweep in 2009, when Messi won his first World Player title, and Pep Guardiola was Manager of the Year.

Last year’s winner, Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, finished second, while there were also three Bayern Munich players in the top 10: Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer.

Luis Enrique was the clear winner of the Manager award, ahead of Chile’s Jorge Sampaoli and Pep Guardiola of Bayern while Barcelona were emphatic victors of the Team award, ahead of Copa America winners Chile.

The awards were decided by votes from a panel of 100 journalists and pundits who chose their top 10 players of the year, with points awarded to each selection.

** Full awards list: po.st/cbz5TI  **

WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR

1    Lionel Messi
Barcelona & Argentina    927
2    Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid & Portugal    702
3    Neymar
Barcelona & Brazil    675
4    Luis Suarez
Barcelona & Uruguay    582
5    Robert Lewandowski
Bayern Munich & Poland    450
6    Thomas Muller
Bayern Munich & Germany    240
7    Andres Iniesta
Barcelona & Spain    222
8    Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Paris Saint-Germain
& Sweden    196
9    Paul Pogba
Juventus & France     137
10    Manuel Neuer
Bayern Munich & Germany    131
11    Alexis Sanchez
Arsenal & Chile    123
12    Eden Hazard
Chelsea & Belgium    102
13    Sergio Aguero
Manchester City & Argentina    98
14    Kevin De Bruyne
Wolfsburg/Manchester City & Belgium    78
15    Arturo Vidal
Juventus/Bayern Munich
& Chile    73
16    Gianluigi Buffon
Juventus & Italy    72
17    Carlos Tevez
Juventus/Boca Juniors
& Argentina    43
18    Yaya Toure
Manchester City & Ivory Coast    39
19=    Gareth Bale
Real Madrid & Wales    36
19=    Ivan Rakitic
Barcelona & Croatia    36

WORLD MANAGER OF THE YEAR

1    Luis Enrique
Barcelona    49 votes
2    Jorge Sampaoli
Chile    15
3    Pep Guardiola
Bayern Munich    10
4    Michael O’Neill
Northern Ireland     4
5    Lars Lagerbeck/Heimir Hallgrimsson
Iceland    3

WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR

1 Barcelona    82
2 Chile    9
3 Bayern Munich     3
4 Iceland     2
5= Germany     1
5= Turkey     1

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