A Spanish news agency that has pedigree in predicting the Ballon d'Or winner, Agencia News, has reported that Lionel Messi will win a fifth crown next month, per the Mirror's John Cross.

Last year, the same agency correctly established the contest's top five players prior to the award's announcement. It has now made a similar forecast this year, with the betting market also swinging in the Argentine's favour

Per Cross, William Hill spokesman Tony Kenny commented:

It seems the momentum is behind Messi. The market has changed over the last few days. Ronaldo remains the 4/6 favourite - although he has drifted from 4/11.

Messi has come in the betting from 4/1 into 11/10 - this is market forces and punter support - which is probably linked to the Agencia story. Ribery is out to 10/1 having been even money favourite in June. It's a really strange market - and certainly we've never seen anything like it.

Were Messi to secure success in 2013, the award would cause major consternation among fans of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery, with the Argentine having had a far from vintage year in 2013.

While Ronaldo has broken many records, including most Champions League goals in a calendar year per Goal.com's Ben Hayward, Ribery has helped Bayern to a famous Treble. The duo were thought to be real contenders for the crown this year:

A Messi win would therefore raise questions as to the way the award is conducted and the criteria used, with the Ballon d'Or traditionally rewarding the best individual performer of the past 12 months—not necessarily the person considered the world's best player.

Over the past year, for all his excellence when fit, it would be difficult to say that Messi has been the best individual performer of a year in which he has suffered from several injury absences and been part of a Barca side that have not hit the heights of previous seasons.

Having said that, he did win La Liga with Barcelona and therefore has a major trophy in his cabinet that Ronaldo cannot boast in 2013.

LEAKED: Lionel Messi wins Ballon d'Or 2013 - TWEETS
Report: Lionel Messi Wins The 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or


Agencia News are exclusively reporting that FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or, fighting off competition from both Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery, who allegedly finish in second and third-place respectively
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Ah, the joys of social networks. If you delve deep enough, there are always hidden gems to be found, particularly when it comes to sports. Whether it's "agents" proclaiming the next big transfer, "club insiders" bringing the latest dressing room gossip, or in this case, an unknown source with an "exclusive" report detailing the alleged winner of the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Spoiler: it isn't Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to the mysterious @AgenciaNews, Lionel Messi will allegedly walk away with his fifth Ballon d'Or, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery trailing in his wake, with Andres Iniesta and former Barcelona striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic occupying fourth and fifth place -- and usually, speculation and rumours like this would be discarded without much thought.

However, the Twitter handle in question has previous; they were amongst the first to report that FIFA had extended the voting deadline just a couple of weeks ago and somehow escaped the headlines last year, despite correctly predicting the rankings of the top five in the 2012 Ballon d'Or -- roughly a month before the results were officially announced. The same account tweeted an exclusive regarding Eric Abidal's move to Monte Carlo approximately 48 hours before AS Monaco confirmed the signing, and continuing on the Ballon d'Or theme, they also correctly reported the ranking of four of the top five managers in the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year Award.

Let's take it with a pinch of salt; Lionel Messi will surely remain an outsider for this year's award, but maybe success isn't out of his reach after all...

What do you think? Does Lionel Messi deserve to win his fifth consecutive Ballon d'Or?

FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013 Leaked After Extended Deadline!

Final standings for the 2013 Ballon dOr- 1. Messi, 2. Ronaldo, 3. Ribery, 4. Iniesta, 5. Zlatan
Final Coach standings for the 2013 Ballon dOr- 1. Jupp Heynckes, 2.Luiz Scolari, 3. Vicente del Bosque

1st - Messi - 31.1% Votes
2nd - Ronaldo - 22.9% Votes
3rd - Ribery - 17.3 % Votes
4th - Iniesta - 9.2% Votes
5th - Ibrahimovic - 7.4% Votes

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All eyes were on the Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and his closest rival Cristiano Ronaldo during the Fifa Ballon d’Or award.
http://www.prestnaija.com/lionel-messi-wins-record-5th-ballon-dor-ahead-of-cristiano-ronaldo/

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