AC Milan star Kaka collected yet another award Monday when he was named FIFA's world soccer player of the year.
The Brazilian playmaker received the honour at a special gala ceremony in Zurich held by FIFA, soccer's world governing body.
AC Milan star Kaka was named FIFA's world player of the year on Monday.
(Paco Serinelli/AFP/Getty Images)
Coaches and captains of men's national teams around the world vote on the annual award from a list of three finalists. Kaka beat out Argentine winger Lionel Messi of Spanish club FC Barcelona, and Manchester United and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo to win the award.
"Tonight is a really special night for me," Kaka said after being handed the trophy.
Kaka, 25, succeeds Italy's World Cup-winning captain and defender Fabio Cannavaro as the FIFA world player of the year, and is the third AC Milan star to win the honour since it was first handed out in 1991, joining Dutch forward Marco Van Basten (1992) and George Weah of Liberia (1995).
Kaka is also the fifth Brazilian to win the FIFA award, following in the footsteps of Romario (1994), Ronaldo (1996, 1997, 2002), Rivaldo (1999) and Ronaldinho (2004, 2005)
Earlier this month, Kaka won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award — the Golden Ball — as the world soccer player of the year in a vote organized by France Football magazine.
Kaka was also named world player of the year by British magazine World Soccer, following a poll of fans in 48 countries.
Additional honours in 2007 have included UEFA's Club Footballer of the Year, Champions League Best Forward and Champions League Top Scorer awards and the FIFPro world player of the year title, voted on by Kaka's fellow professionals.
Kaka was the top scorer in last season's Champions League with 10 goals, including a two-goal performance on the road against Manchester United in the semifinals that was hailed by pundits as one of the best of the competition.
He helped Milan to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the Champions League final last season, and on Sunday he scored one goal and set up two others in Milan's 4-2 win over Argentine club Boca Juniors at the FIFA Club World Cup final in Yokohama, Japan.
Also on Monday, Brazil's Marta won the women's world player award for the second year running, beating out Germany's World Cup-winning captain Birgit Prinz (a three time winner of the honour) and Brazilian teammate Cristiane.
