Argentina captain, Lionel Messi has been voted the best FIFA Men’s player award ahead of Manchester City forward Erling Haaland and PSG and French captain Kylian Mbappé in the Grande finale ceremony which took place in London.
The voting which was done by national team coaches and captains as well as expert journalists and supporters across the world saw Haaland tied on the same votes (48) with Messi, the Argentine captain won the poll by the number of first-choice nominations received in votes from national team captains, while Mbappé earned the third spot with 35 points.
Leading Argentina to a historical World Cup glory in Qatar and his incredible performance in the Ligue1 has helped the 36-year-old add the Balon D’or and now the FIFA Men Player of the Year award in 2023.
Messi likewise won the 2019 Best FIFA Men’s Player award and was recognized by FIFA as the leading player in the men’s game on five occasions before that—2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2015—making this his eighth individual award in total.
What they said about Messi:
“If I told you the things he does in training you wouldn’t believe me. He’s crazy. I told Leo that as long as he’s happy on the pitch, he should continue playing as long as he can. He showed us that there are no limits in football, and that is amazing.”
Lionel Scaloni, Argentina’s head coach.
“One of the reasons why we bought him was to inspire the next generation of soccer players in America, to want to be soccer players. So bringing him does that and it’s an important thing for us. Someone like that changes the game. Someone like that inspires another generation of soccer players.”
David Beckham, Inter Miami co-owner.
