Lionel Messi won The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award after leading Argentina to her 3rd World Cup victory in Qatar.
Messi beat French internationals Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema to the prize.
Currently, in good form, Messi scored 27 goals in 49 games for club and country in 2021-22. He scored seven goals in Qatar and was also named the MVP.
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Messi, who won the award for a second time, said: “It’s amazing. It’s been a tremendous year and it’s an honour for me to be here and win this award.
“Without my teammates, I wouldn’t be here.
“I achieved the dream I had been hoping for so long. Very few people can achieve that and I have been lucky to do so.
“It, the World Cup is the most wonderful thing that’s happened to me in my career.”
Mbappe was the top scorer at the 2022 World Cup with eight goals, including a hat-trick in the final as France lost to Argentina on penalties.
He finished 2022 with 56 goals in 56 games for club and country.
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Benzema missed out on the World Cup with France due to injury but was a key player for Real Madrid as they won the Champions League for the 14th time.
He is the fourth-highest scorer in Champions League history with 88 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, and Robert Lewandowski.
Other winners
Spain and Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas was named women’s player of the year for the second straight year.
Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez won the best men’s goalkeeper, while England’s Mary Earps won the women’s award.
Martinez won the World Cup, saving four penalties along the way including in the shootout victory against France in the final.
Collecting his award, Martinez said: “They always ask me who my idols are or who I watched when I was a kids, watching my mum clean buildings for eight or nine hours and watching my dad work. They are my idols.”
Earps, started all six of England’s games at Euro 2022 as they won the competition.
She said: “For anyone who has been in a dark place, just know there is light at the end of the tunnel, so keep going. You can achieve anything that you set your mind to.”
Lionel Scaloni, who led Argentina to their third World Cup title, was named men’s coach of the year.
Scaloni beat Pep Guardiola – who guided Manchester City to a sixth Premier League title – and Real Madrid’s Champions League-winning boss Carlo Ancelotti to the honour.
England manager Sarina Wiegman was named women’s coach of the year after leading the Lionesses to European Championship glory on home soil last year, the team’s first major trophy.
Fifpro men’s world XI: Thibaut Courtois; Achraf Hakimi, Virgil van Dijk, Joao Cancelo; Kevin De Bruyne, Luka Modric, Casemiro; Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe.
Full list of winners:
The Best men’s player: Lionel Messi
Best women’s player: Alexia Putellas
The Best men’s goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
Best women’s goalkeeper: Mary Earps
The Best men’s coach: Lionel Scaloni
Best women’s coach: Sarina Wiegman
The Best Puskas award: Marcin Oleksy
Best fan award: Argentina fans
The Best fair play award: Luka Lochoshvili
