The 2009 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in the world as judged by an international panel of sports journalists, was awarded to Lionel Messi of Barcelona on 1 December 2009, the first of his record setting eight Ballon d'Or awards.

[1] Messi won the award by a then record margin, 240 points ahead of 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

Xavi was the second Barcelona player in the top three, finishing a further 63 points behind Ronaldo.

Messi's win made him the first Argentine-born player to win the award since Omar Sívori in 1961; however, Sívori had taken Italian citizenship by that time and is recognised to have won the Ballon d'Or as an Italian player.