World Cup champion Lionel Messi did it once more by edging previous PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, this time to take FIFA’s greatest males’s participant award on Monday.
The greatest girls’s participant was Spain’s Alexia Putellas for a second straight yr.
After steering Argentina to World Cup glory in an epic last in opposition to Mbappe’s France final yr in Qatar, Messi received one of the best participant vote in opposition to Mbappe and Karim Benzema and secured the FIFA prize for the seventh time in 14 years.
Eventually, La Pulga received the World Cup in his record-equaling fifth try at etching his title within the temple of the soccer gods.
“It was a crazy year for me,” Messi stated. “I could fulfill my (World Cup) dream after fighting for it for so long. And at the end, it happened, and it was the most beautiful thing in my career. It’s every player’s dream, but very few can achieve it, so I’m thankful to God for being able to do it.”
The three gamers made the ultimate shortlist in voting by a worldwide panel of nationwide workforce captains and coaches, chosen journalists in every of FIFA’s 211 member nations, plus followers on-line.
The 35-year-old Messi additionally beat Mbappe – who was searching for his first greatest participant award from FIFA – to the Golden Ball trophy awarded by FIFA for the World Cup’s greatest participant. Mbappe earned the Golden Boot as the highest scorer.
In the FIFA Awards vote, Messi had 52 factors, Mbappe 44, and Benzema 34.
Mbappe, 11 years youthful than Messi at 24 and thought of Messi’s inheritor obvious on the world stage, made the three-person shortlist for the primary time.
He was fourth in voting for the 2018 award, the yr he took heart stage when France to the World Cup title.
Real Madrid star Benzema received the extra prestigious Ballon d’Or in October forward of the World Cup, which he missed due to an harm. Messi was not on the lengthy listing of Ballon d’Or candidates introduced in August.
Robert Lewandowski received the FIFA award the final two years, and Cristiano Ronaldo was left off the 14-player shortlist for the award this yr for the primary time.
Messi broke a report he shared with Ronaldo by making the lads’s world greatest XI for the sixteenth time. The workforce included Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois, Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Portugal’s Joao Cancelo, Dutchman Virgil van Dijk, Belgium’s Kevin de Bruyne, Croatia’s Luka Modric, Brazil’s Casemiro, Norway’s Erling Haaland and France’s Mbappe and Benzema.
Earlier Monday, French prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation right into a rape accusation in opposition to Hakimi, a defender at Paris Saint-Germain.
Messi voted for former Barcelona teammate Neymar as his selection for greatest participant. Only Brazil captain Thiago Silva additionally voted on Neymar.
Russia’s coach and captain weren’t banned from voting within the award.
Patellas received her award from Alex Morgan of the United States and Beth Mead, who led England to the European Championship title in 2022.
Barcelona playmaker Putellas made the highest three once more regardless of being injured days earlier than the Euro and lacking the match. She scored 34 targets throughout all competitions final season.
Mead was the joint prime scorer on the Euro and was named the match’s greatest participant. However, she sustained a extreme knee harm in November whereas taking part in for Arsenal and will miss the Women’s World Cup in July in Australia and New Zealand.
Morgan, who was second within the 2019 vote to teammate Megan Rapinoe, was participant of the match when the U.S. received the CONCACAF W Championship final yr. She was additionally the joint prime scorer.
Earlier, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was voted FIFA males’s coach of the yr after main his workforce to the World Cup title in December.
The girls’s coach award went to Sarina Wiegman, who led England to the Women’s European Championship title.
Scaloni took over Argentina on the finish of 2018 on an interim foundation and was extensively criticized for missing expertise as he had by no means coached an expert workforce. Earlier Monday, his contract because the nationwide workforce coach was prolonged to the tip of the 2026 World Cup.
The different shortlisted coaches have been Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola.
The girls’s goalkeeper award was given to Euro winner Mary Earps of England, and one of the best males’s goalkeeper was Argentina’s World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez.
The occasion in Paris was marked by tributes to Pele, who died late final yr at age 82 following a battle with colon most cancers. Pele’s spouse, Marcia Aoki, obtained a trophy honoring the soccer nice from the arms of former Brazil striker Ronaldo.
“I have three words to say to God, who gave us Edson; to Edson, who gave us Pele; and to the world, who received them so well: Grateful, grateful, and grateful,” she stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
