Argentina captain and Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi has been named Best Player of the Year at the 2022 Best FIFA Awards.
Messi bested his PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, and the 2022 UEFA Champions League winner, Karim Benzema, to lift the award for the second time in his trophy-laden career.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner recently led Argentina to their third World Cup victory at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, ending a 36-year wait.
The 35-year-old former Barcelona captain is now the joint all-time recipient of the award with current Al Nassr FC striker Cristiano Ronaldo and FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski.
Argentina was clearly the runaway winner of the night, with its national team coach Lionel Scaloni named the Best Coach of the Year and World Cup winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez beating Yassine Bounou (Sevilla and Morocco) and Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid and Belgium) to the accolade of Best Goalkeeper.
The Best FIFA Fan Award also went to the Argentinian National Team fans, who traveled to Qatar in impressive numbers to provide incredible support for their team’s ultimate victorious FIFA World Cup campaign, and to the millions of fans who welcomed their heroes home to Buenos Aires and across the country.
In one of the major highlights of the star-studded night, Marcia Aoki, Pele’s widow was called up to receive the special ‘Best FIFA Award’ awarded to the late former Santos and Brazil legend.
Meanwhile, in an historic first, Marcin Oleksy became the first amputee footballer to win the Puskas Award. The Polish player beat fellow finalists Dimitri Payet and Richarlison to lift the award. Oleksy produced his stunning goal on November 6 for Warta Poznan against Stal Rzeszow in the PZU Amp Futbol Ekstraklasa.
Other awardees are:
Best Women’s Player award: Alexia Putellas (Spain/ Barcelona)
Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman (England national team coach)
Puskas Award for the Best Goal of the Year: Marcin Oleksy
Best Women’s Goalkeeper: Mary Earps (England/Manchester United)
Fairplay Award: Luka Lochoshvili
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