PARIS, Feb 28: Lionel Messi, Lionel Scaloni and Emiliano Martinez made it a clean sweep for Argentina in Monday’s glitzy ceremony for the Best FIFA Awards in Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Messi was crowned the Best FIFA Men’s Player, Scaloni took the Best FIFA Men’s Coach and Martinez the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper.
The award period spans between the start of the 2021-22 season through to the end of the 2022 World Cup, which saw Argentina end their 36-year wait to win the competition. The best women’s player was Spain’s Alexia Putellas for a second straight year.
After steering Argentina to World Cup glory in an epic final against Mbappé’s France last year in Qatar, Messi won the best player vote against Mbappé and Karim Benzema and secured the FIFA prize for the seventh time in 14 years on Monday night.
He won the World Cup at his record-equaling fifth attempt.
“It was a crazy year for me,” Messi said. “I could fulfil my (World Cup) dream after fighting for it for so long. And in the end it happened, and it was the most beautiful thing of my career. It’s the dream of every player, but very few can achieve it, so I’m thankful to God for being able to do it.” The three players made the final shortlist in voting by a global panel of national team captains and coaches, selected journalists in each of FIFA’s 211 member countries, plus fans online.
The 35-year-old Messi also beat Mbappé – who was seeking his first best player award from FIFA – to the Golden Ball trophy awarded by FIFA for the World Cup’s best player. Mbappé earned the Golden Boot as top scorer.
In the FIFA Awards vote, Messi had 52 points, Mbappé 44, and Benzema 34.
Mbappé, 11 years younger than Messi at 24 and considered Messi’s heir apparent on the world stage, made the three-man shortlist for the first time. He was fourth in voting for the 2018 award, the year he led France to the World Cup title.
Real Madrid star Benzema won the more prestigious Ballon d’Or in October ahead of the World Cup.
The France forward missed the tournament because of injury. Messi was not on the long list of Ballon d’Or candidates announced in August.
Messi broke a record he shared with Ronaldo by making the men’s world best XI for the 16th time. Messi voted for former Barcelona teammate Neymar as his choice for best player. Only Brazil captain Thiago Silva also voted on Neymar.
Russia’s coach and captain were not banned from voting in the award.Putellas won 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 top three again despite being injured days before the Euro and missing the tournament. She scored 34 goals across all competitions last season.
Martinez, who plies his club trade for Aston Villa, finished ahead of Thibaut Courtois and Yassine Bounou of Real Madrid and Sevilla respectively in the voting although Courtois made the cut for the FIFPro Men’s World 11.
Scaloni was next to pick up an award after seeing off competition from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti, who won a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.
La Albiceleste have lost just one of their 23 games since the start of last season, with their solitary loss coming in their opening Qatar 2022 group game against Saudi Arabia.
Messi made it three from three for Argentina by claiming the top prize at the ceremony in the French capital, which started with a poignant tribute to Brazil great Pele.
Madrid striker Karim Benzema and Messi’s PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe had also been in the running for the award.
Argentina’s fans also claimed the FIFA Fan Award.
Their domination on the men’s side was not quite matched by European champions England in the women’s prizes.
Mary Earps was named the Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper and Sarina Wiegman took the Best FIFA Women’s Coach award for a third time. But Beth Mead was pipped to the Best FIFA Women’s Player accolade by Alexia Putellas, last year’s winner.
Other winners included Luka Lochoshvili, then of Austrian side Wolfsberger, in the FIFA Fair Play category for potentially saving the life of opponent Georg Teigl during a game after the Austria Vienna player fell unconscious mid-match.
Polish amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy won the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal for his perfectly executed bicycle kick for Warta Poznan against Stal Rzeszow.
Full list of winners:
The Best FIFA Men’s Player: Lionel Messi
The Best FIFA Women’s Player: Alexia Putellas
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper: Mary Earps
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: Lionel Scaloni
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman
FIFA Puskas award: Marcin Oleksy
FIFA Fan award: Argentina fans
FIFA Fair Play award: Luka Lochoshvili (Agencies)
