We are delighted to congratulate Icon Leo Messi on winning his third consecutive Ballon d'Or award. The 24-year-old Barcelona and Argentina superstar beat team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo to land the prestigious title of world's best player. 

After legends Marco van Basten, Michel Platini and Johan Cruyff, Messi becomes the fourth player to win the award three times. And at such a young age, he is perfectly placed to smash the record set by his predeccesors in years to come. 

Messi played the starring role in Barcelona's Champions League triumph last season, and was named man of the match in the final against Manchester United. He also won the Primera División with Barcelona, as well as the the UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup and Spanish Super Cup. 

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Brazil legend Pele and UEFA president Michel Platini were among a host of leading football figures to lavish praise on Messi at the awards ceremony in Zurich. 

At Icons we have enjoyed an excellent relationship with Leo, having conducted our first signing with him when he was just 18. We met up with him for our sixth signing session together in December 2011. You can see our full range of signed Messi products here.

We are also proud to say that six of the FIFA 2011 World XI are on the Icons roster. Iker Casillas; Xabi Alonso; Andres Iniesta; Wayne Rooney; Cristiano Ronaldo; Leo Messi - the world's best six-a-side team?!

The rest of the World XI is made up of Sergio Ramos; Gerard Pique; Dani Alves; Nemanja Vidic and Xavi. We are working on adding more of those names to our list, so sign up to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter for the latest news!

We are delighted to see our Icons making up nine of the 23-man shortlist for the prestigious Ballon d'Or. Barcelona and Argentina's Leo Messi is the overwhelming favourite, and will match Michel Platini's record of three consecutive Ballon d'Ors if he is triumphant. Last year there were five Icons on the shortlist. This year we have grown. Let us know who you would like to see next on the site by getting in touch on Twitter or Facebook.

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney is the only Englishman to have been nominated, and is one of only five players connected to the Premier League on the shortlist. Of those five, Manchester City's Sergio Aguero only played half of 2011 in England, while ex-Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas now plays for Barcelona. In Spain, Barcelona lead the way with an incredible eight nominees, while rivals Real Madrid boast five.

Which Icon will be crowned World Player of the Year? Here is the complete shortlist:

Eric Abidal (France), Barcelona

Sergio Aguero (Argentina), Manchester City

Karim Benzema (France), Real Madrid

Iker Casillas (Spain), Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Real Madrid

Dani Alves (Brazil), Barcelona

Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Anzhi Makhachkala

Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Barcelona

Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Inter Milan

Andres Iniesta (Spain), Barcelona

Leo Messi (Argentina), Barcelona

Thomas Muller (Germany), Bayern Munich

Nani (Portugal), Manchester United

Neymar (Brazil), Santos

Mesut Ozil (Germany), Real Madrid

Gerard Pique (Spain), Barcelona

Wayne Rooney (England), Manchester United

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Bayern Munich

Wesley Sneijder (Holland), Inter Milan

Luis Suarez (Uruguay), Liverpool

David Villa (Spain), Barcelona

Xabi Alonso (Spain), Real Madrid

Xavi (Spain), Barcelona

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi won the European Footballer of the Year award yesterday topping a poll of journalists from across the world. In a stellar year the little Argentinian won La Liga, El Copa del Rey and the Champions League and helped his national team qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Below is a special commemorative signed 'Campeones 2009' shirt we asked him to do for us at the last signing session we had with him in September.

He won the poll by 240 votes from his nearest challenger Cristiano Ronaldo, another of icons.com star signings. Bareclona and Real Madrid players dominate the poll as the top seven players all played for the Spanish clubs in this calendar year. Steven Gerrard was 10th, Fernando Torres 11th and Cesc Fabregas came in 12th.

For the full list click here

The list of nominees for the Ballon D'Or was announced yesterday with Cristiano Ronaldo leading the way. The Ballon d'Or is awarded to the European footballer of the year, and is voted for by journalists and organised by France Football magazine. The winner will be announced on 1 December.

The full list of nominees is below, featuring as many as nine players featured on the icons.com site.

Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Diego (Juventus), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg), Samuel Eto'o (Internazionale), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona), Andreas Iniesta (Barcelona), Julio Cesar (Internazionale), Kaka (Real Madrid), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Maicon (Internazionale), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Luis Fabiano (Seville), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), David Villa (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona), Yaya Toure (Barcelona).

Hopefully, over the coming year we can add big names to the site from this illustrious list and bring you products from as many of the world's best players as possible. Let us know who you would like to see on the site by emailing us at icons.com

If you open your Daily Mail today you'll see a reference to the competition they're running at the moment in conjunction with us. They're giving their readers the chance to win a signed shirt from two of our most recent signings - Arsenal hero Cesc Fabregas and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

To be in with a chance of winning these quality prizes go to the Dailymail.co.uk site. The competition close at midday on October 23rd so don't forget to enter.

You know that at Icons we only work with the true superstars of the game.  On Thursday we met up with Icons favourite Cesc Fabregas in London to carry out our first signing with Cesc since last year.  Since our last signing, Cesc has been made the Arsenal captain, reached another Champions League semi-final and has represented Spain in the Confederations Cup.  An Iconic year by anyone's standards...

We were joined at this signing by our old friends from Sky.  Make sure you tune in to Revista de la Liga to keep up to date on all the goings on in Spain, and for the chance to win exclusive Icons memorabilia.  At Icons we're hoping the lure of a return to Spain doesn't prove too strong for Cesc!

The icons sale is in full swing and we've decided to slash our last few remaining Emmanuel Adebayor signed products even further.

Signed Arsenal shirts are down £110 to £39.99, signed photos down £45 to £19.99, while signed canvases are an incredible £120 off at £29.99.

We're clearing this stock so we can bring some incredible new names to you in the new season.

Grab a summer sale bargain while you can.