The 24-year-old Barcelona and Argentina forward finished ahead of his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca teammate Xavi.

``It's a great personal pleasure for me,'' said Messi.

``It's the third time I've won it. It's just an amazing honour. I want to thank everyone that's been involved with me - my teammates, trainers, physios, the coach (Pep Guardiola) and everyone at Barcelona.

``I'd also like to thank the Argentina national team as well.''

Messi becomes only the second player, after current UEFA president Michel Platini, to win the award for three consecutive years.

He also joins Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten as the only men to have won the prize on three occasions.

``I want to share this honour with my teammate, Xavi,'' added Messi, who then addressed his clubmate in the audience at the FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala.

``He deserves it, too. I want to share it with you, because you deserve it as much as me. It's a pleasure to be here alongside him and to play with him.''

The award was formed when the Ballon d'Or merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2010 and is voted for by national team coaches and captains, as well as a panel of soccer journalists selected by France Football magazine.

Messi was the strong favourite to retain his prize after a year in which he inspired his club to five trophies, including the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup and a third consecutive La Liga title.

He scored twice, including a memorable solo goal at the Bernabeu, as Barca beat old enemy Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals and he was also on target from long range in the 3-1 defeat of Manchester United in the final at Wembley.

This season he has scored his 200th goal for Barcelona and is closing in on Cesar Rodriguez's all-time record of 235 goals for the club.

Barcelona was given further reason to celebrate when Guardiola was named FIFA Coach of the Year.

The 40-year-old former Barcelona and Spain midfielder had been nominated alongside Madrid's Jose Mourinho - winner last year after guiding Inter Milan to three trophies including the Champions League - and Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United.