ZURICH - Brazil's Ronaldinho was named 2004 Fifa World Footballer of the Year to cap a fine 12 months for both club and country.
His club Barcelona are racing away at the top of the Spanish league and Brazil are well on course to qualify for the 2006 World Cup from South American qualifiers.
The result was announced at a gala evening at the Zurich opera house.
Ronaldinho was acclaimed by Pele himself as the best player at the 2002 World Cup and it is not surprising his talent has been finally recognised with this award.
Ronaldinho's blinding pace unhinged England's defence in the quarter-finals to set up a goal for Rivaldo, and his audacious free-kick caught out David Seaman to seal a 2-1 victory for Brazil. Arguably he was the most important component of Brazil's vaunted 'Triple R’ strike-force at those 2002 finals, surging forward from just behind Ronaldo and Rivaldo and pulling opposing defenders out of position.
Undoubtedly he was one of the key components of Brazil winning their unprecedented fifth World Cup title.
He was hailed as the new boy-wonder of Brazilian football after starring in Brazil's winning 1997 Fifa Under-17 World Championship campaign, a tournament he finished as top scorer.
He confirmed his burgeoning talent at the 1999 Copa America, scoring an extraordinary individual goal against Venezuela which has passed into Brazilian folklore.
His talents at that tournament attracted the attention of several clubs in Europe, and early last year he looked to have completed a dream move from Gremio to France's Paris Saint Germain.
But within days the transfer ran into problems.
Gremio, insisting they had not sold him, appealed to Fifa for intervention leaving Ronaldinho languishing on the sidelines and barred from playing until the dispute was settled.
It rumbled on for close to six months before PSG were eventually ordered to pay a transfer fee to Gremio that finally allowed the Brazilian midfielder to relaunch his career.
A period of transition followed, with Ronaldinho taking his time to find the sort of form that had helped make him one of the hottest properties in world football. Slowly but surely, PSG's fans were able to see for themselves what the fuss was all about.
His prowess from free-kicks and some memorable individual goals were the highlights of a disappointing season for PSG that year.
However the award comes after a great year at Barcelona, for whom he signed from PSG for E30 million in July 2003 under the noses of Manchester United who were also courting him.
After a lacklustre first six months in the Catalonian capital, he started to show top form and helped them to an incredible late season surge which saw them just fail to take the title from eventual champions Valencia.
This season, his confidence has grown under coach Frank Rijkaard and he has blossomed into a truly magnificent player, aided by the excellent Portuguese midfielder Deco.
His prowess was encapsulated when he scored a magnificent winner in the dying seconds of Barcelona's 2-1 victory over AC Milan at the beginning of November.
The Brazilian went past two Milan defenders and then unleashed a left-foot shot from the edge of the area, which his compatriot Dida had little chance of stopping.
And Brazil are sitting in second spot in the 10-country group of South American qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in which Ronaldinho has contributed well.