Footbal news - Lionel Messi andLewis Hamilton named joint Laureus World Sportsman of the Year

The Argentine scored a sensational 51 goals in all competitions last season, and was the captain as Barcelona won La Liga for the 10th time in his career.

Hamilton, meanwhile, won the Formula 1 drivers' championship for the fifth time in his career. Messi is the first footballer to win the award ever, while Hamilton follows in the footsteps of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

"I would like to thank the Academy for giving me this recognition," Messi said in a video message as he was not able to attend the ceremony.

"This is a very important and special award. For me it is a huge delight to be part of this award and the first team player to receive it.

"Of course I would like to thank my team-mates, my family and the fans who support me. Thanks to them, this kind of individual recognition is possible."

In the women's section, American artistic gymnast Simone Biles won the award for the second time after an extraordinary performance in the 2019 World Championships, helping USA to its fifth straight team title and taking her personal career medal tally at the event to 24, an individual record. She won an incredible five gold medals at the event.

The Team of the Year prize went to the South Africa rugby union team after they won the World Cup at the tail end of 2019.

Elsewhere, Egan Bernal, who became the youngest Tour de France champion in over 100 years last summer was awarded World Breakthrough of the Year.

Teenage snowboarder Chloe Kim won in the action sports category for the second year in a row, and Oksana Masters is the Sportsperson Of The Year With a Disability.

German racing driver Sophia Florsch won Comeback of the Year, Sachin Tendulkar's role in leading India to the 2011 Cricket World Cup won the moment prize.