Ronaldinho was named FIFA's world player of the year for the second successive season tonight as Frank Lampard had to settle for second place.
Barcelona's brilliant Brazilian, who was also named European footballer of the year last month, becomes only the third player to win the world award twice.
England midfielder Lampard may be viewed by his Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho as the best player in the world but he came second in the voting by national team coaches and captains while Ronaldinho's team-mate Samuel Eto'o finished third.
Ronaldinho, 25, finished the overwhelming winner with 956 points compared to 306 for Lampard and 190 for Eto'o.
He joins the ranks of Real Madrid players Zinedine Zidane (1998 and 2003) and Ronaldo (1996, 1997 and 2002) as those who have won the FIFA award more than once.
He also won the international players' union FIFPro's first world player award in September.
The woman player of the year went to Germany's Birgit Prinz, who beat Marta of Brazil and America's Shannon Boxx in the voting.
Ronaldinho polled 159 first-place votes compared to 25 for Lampard and 15 for Eto'o. Arsenal's Thierry Henry came fourth in the voting, Liverpool's Steven Gerrard seventh, Chelsea's Didier Drogba 10th, Real Madrid's David Beckham 18th and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney 19th.
Those voting for Lampard included Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann, Italy coach Marcello Lippi, Holland captain Edwin van der Sar and Sweden captain Olof Mellberg.
Coaches and captains cannot vote for players from their own association and England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson chose Ronaldinho, Inter's Brazil striker Adriano and Juventus' Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic while captain David Beckham voted for his club-mate Ronaldo first, Ronaldinho second and Ibrahimovic third.
The top 20 were: Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Lampard (Chelsea), Eto'o (Barcelona), Henry (Arsenal), Adriano (Inter), Shevchenko (AC Milan), Gerrard (Liverpool), Kaka (AC Milan), Maldini (AC Milan), Drogba (Chelsea), Ballack (Bayern Munich), Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Zidane (Real Madrid), Ibrahimovic (Juventus), Deco Barcelona), Riquelme (Villarreal), Robinho (Real Madrid), Beckham (Real Madrid), Rooney (Man Utd), C Ronaldo (Man Utd).
After picking up his award, Ronaldinho said: "I would like to say to all my team-mates and the national team that without them I would not be here."
