Lionel Messi Named the Best Player in the World by FIFA

At FIFA’s annual awards event, Lionel Messi, and Alexia Putellas were named the best players in men’s and women’s football, respectively.

Messi, who led Argentina to World Cup victory at the end of last year, received recognition as the Best FIFA Men’s Player for the second time, and Spanish midfielder Putellas received recognition as the Best FIFA Women’s Player for the second consecutive year. Each year, the awards are decided by the coaches and captains of the national teams as well as a global jury of journalists and fans. In the voting for the male category, the 35-year-old Messi triumphed against Real Madrid attacker Karim Benzema and team member Kylian Mbappé of Paris Saint-Germain.

Following Argentina’s World Cup victory, Messi reflected, “I achieved a dream I had been hoping for so long. For any athlete, achieving that goal is a dream come true. I was fortunate enough to succeed in my endeavor. Messi scored twice as Argentina and France played to a dramatic 3-3 draw during extra time in the World Cup final before Argentina won on penalties. In addition, Messi contributed six goals in 26 appearances as PSG tied a record by winning a record-tying 10th Ligue 1 league. As the captain of Argentina, Messi voted for his PSG teammate Neymar to win the award for the best male player over Mbappé and Benzema.

Meanwhile, Putellas led Barcelona to a domestic treble, a position in the Champions League final, and 34 goals across all competitions last season. Lyon would go on to win the championship. The American international Alex Morgan and England attacker Beth Mead was voted out of the poll by the 29-year-old, who missed the European Championships due to an ACL injury. She also created history by becoming the first athlete to double up on women’s titles. At the awards presentation, along with Messi, two other Argentinians, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Coach Lionel Scaloni, were also awarded. On the women’s side, England goalkeeper Mary Earps and Coach Sarina Wiegman received honors.

Marcin Oleksy, a Polish amputee player who played for Warta Poznań and scored an incredible scissor-kick goal in November, won the Puskás Award for the finest goal in men’s and women’s football.

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“I made a really good connection. Oleksy described his goal as being pure. “When I struck it, I was watching the ball with my eyes the entire time, and I watched it go into the corner of the net. I’ve always wanted to make a stunning goal. After I won, you could tell how happy I was. I exhaled as I raised my head and puffed out my chest. I was simply overjoyed.