From the recent and most celebrated updated in the Football world, at the London awards presentation on Monday, Lionel Messi was reportedly crowned as FIFA’s best men’s player for 2023, and Aitana Bonmati added further individual honors to her list.
Messi won the trophy for the third time, beating Erling Haaland who was the clear favorite to win the title, having scored 52 goals in his first season with City, and helping the English team win the FA Cup, the Premier League, and the Champions League.
however on an incredible evening for Manchester City, the 36-year-old emerged as the unexpected winner ahead of Erling Haaland. The period from August 2023 to December 2022, following Messi’s lead Argentina to World Cup victory, was the only one covered by the award.
Despite dominating Ligue 1, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner experienced a quiet finish to his career at Paris Saint-Germain during that time. In June, he joined Inter Miami of the Major League Soccer.
Messi established himself in the United States quite fast after leading the team—which David Beckham owns a portion of—to their first championship in August, when they won the League’s Cup.
After scoring 52 goals in his City debut season, where the English team earned the FA Cup, the Premier League, and the Champions League, Haaland seemed the clear favorite to win.
Messi was declared the winner despite having the same amount of points via a scoring system that was determined by the votes of national team leaders, coaches, journalists, and supporters because there were a lot of first-choice nominations.
Messi’s older club teammate Kylian Mbappe ranked third. But none of the three men’s finalists showed up for the ceremony, so Thierry Henry—who was also co-hosting the event—picked up the trophy in Messi’s place. Henry is a star from Arsenal and France.
The winners were determined by a combination of votes cast on Fifa’s website by fans, journalists, and managers of national teams, each of whom received 25% of the total. Despite finishing with an identical number of points to Haaland, Messi was awarded the trophy because more national team captains nominated him for first place.
Harry Kane, Mbappe, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Aaron Ramsey, and Luka Modric were amongst the national team leaders who voted for Messi; on the other hand, Ilkay Gundogan, Casemiro, and Messi voted for Haaland.
Scotland’s Steve Clarke and Wales’ Robert Page opted for Messi, but England manager Gareth Southgate supported Haaland.
