When Lionel Messi first arrived at Barcelona on trial at the age of 13 he already looked like a star in the making.
Result
It's official. The winner of this year's Ballon D'Or has been decided. The trouble is, nobody's saying who has won and nor will they until January 7.
I'm indebted to fellow journalist Paul Kelly, Ireland correspondent for the publication France Football and one of the voters for the eventual winner, for putting me right, after I suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in the Madrid derby would help his chances in the 2012 poll.
Paul tells me that the voting closed on November 8, so no performance since then will count in the final analysis.
The names of Iniesta, Messi and Ronaldo published last week sounds like a final shortlist for voters to choose from, but in reality the result is known at this stage. It's just that FIFA and France Football won't release it until January 7.
He also goes on to explain the history of the award and just how the votes are cast for the eventual winners.
Between 1956 and 2009, he tells me, the Ballon d'Or was organised by France Football with the vote being confined to football reporters only and that the vast majority of selections were very worthy.
For example, Matthias Sammer won the award in 1996 following his starring role in Germany's success in the 1996 Euro finals and Borussia Dortmund's second Bundesliga crown in succession.
However the same year in FIFA's World Footballer of the Year, elected by national team coaches and captains, it finished 1. Ronaldo; 2. Weah; 3. Shearer, with Sammer not making it into the top three.
In 2010 FIFA bought the prize from the Amaury Publishing Group and it is now voted for on the same basis as the former FIFA prize.
The electorate now consists of three colleges; journalists, (whose votes are collected by France Football), national team coaches and national team captains, (whose votes are gathered by FIFA).
Messi won it in 2010, ahead of Xavi and Iniesta, but in fact under the old system it would have been won by Sneijder who received the journalists' vote that year.
In Paul's opinion the change in format since FIFA bought the prize has tended to favour the biggest name contenders.
The old Ballon d'Or 1-5 voting system up to 2009 was more subtle: a fourth preference (worth two points) could influence the outcome, whereas the current system (worth five, three, and one points/point respectively) is less sophisticated.
It is also worth noting that there have been some glaring omissions in the 23 strong short list (down from 30 since FIFA took charge of the award). Diego Milito's exclusion in 2010 was beyond belief, while David Silva's failure to make the list this year was hard to fathom.
The same goes for the coach award. Sir Alex Ferguson won nothing in 2012 but was listed, unlike trophy winners Simeone, Girard and Renard who failed to make the list.
And before you ask how Paul and his colleague Jimmy Magee, who made up the Republic of Ireland jury, voted you should know that voters are not allowed to disclose their choices prior to the result being published so I'm afraid we'll all have to wait until January 7!
Guillem answers your questions...
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