The striker of the national team of Argentina and Inter Miami of the United States of America, Lionel Messi, was chosen as the best player of the year 2023 in the awards given by the World Football Association (FIFA).
This time, these awards were launched at a ceremony held in London, England on Monday, January 15, 2024, The 36-year-old Messi won the men’s award, beating Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, The Argentina captain did not attend the award ceremony because he is with his Inter Miami team where they are preparing for a friendly match against El Salvador on Friday,
It is the third time Messi has won this award where he won it last in 2019 and 2022 since it was separated from the Ballon d’Or given by France Football, Among women, this award was won by Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí who helped her country win the World Cup in the summer of 2023, The FIFA Men’s Player of the Year Awards will take place between December 19, 2022 and August 20, 2023.
The reason is that the 2022 awards also looked at the 2022 World Cup which ended on December 18, Despite this, it seems that most of the voters went by the way Messi performed in the 2022 World Cup where he scored seven goals and provided three assists for his teammates in seven games. From December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023, Messi scored five goals in three games for Argentina.
At Paris Saint-Germain, he scored nine goals in 21 games while at Inter Miami he started playing in July, scoring 11 goals, providing five assists and helping the team win the Leagues Cup, Four players have won the Best Men’s Player Award since it was established by FIFA in 2016. Cristiano Ronaldo won it twice, followed by Luka Modrić in 2018, Robert Lewandowski won in 2020 and 2021.
