Lionel Messi and Alexia Putellas were crowned 2022 Best Fifa men and women players of the year, respectively, at a ceremony held in Paris on Monday night.
Messi won the award ahead of fellow Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.
The 35-year-old won the prestigious accolade at the back of winning the Fifa World Cup with Argentina for the first time since the late iconic Diego Maradona’s era in 1986, their third World Cup in history.
Argentina beat defending champions France 4-2 on penalties following a 3-3 draw during extra-time in a thrilling final in December.
Putellas retained the women’s award despite missing the Euros in England and being out of action since July 2022 due to a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa shot-stopper Emiliano Martinez was named Best Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year ahead of Belgian Tibo Courtois and Moroccan Bono Yassine.
Among the big winners of the night was amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy, who won the Fifa Puskás Award for his acrobatic bicycle-kick in the PZU Amp Futbol Ekstraklasa match.
🏆 The FIFA Puskas Award goes to Marcin Oleksy!
…and what a goal it was 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2LEkSUbfHN
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 27, 2023
Lionel Scaloni beat Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti to win Men’s Coach of the Year award after leading Argentina to their World Cup triumph.
England coach Sarina Weigman won the Women’s Best Coach of the Year after she led the England to their Euro 2022 glory.
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