Lionel Messi, the Argentine superstar, was voted the Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2022 on Monday at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, France.
The 35-year-old won the prestigious accolade for the third time, following 2009 and 2019, ahead of his PSG colleague Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema.
Messi led Argentina to their third World Cup triumph in history in December at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Alexia Putellas, a Spanish midfielder for Barcelona, received the 2022 Best FIFA Women’s Player title for the second time in a row.
During FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s opening statement, a memorial video for Brazilian superstar Pele, who died last December, was screened to the audience.
Former renowned Brazilian striker Ronaldo Nazario ascended the stage and gave a special honor to Pele’s ex-wife, Marcia Aoki.
Mary Earps of Manchester United earned the Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper award for 2022.
Former Brazilian national goalkeeper Julio Cesar handed the 2022 Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper trophy to Aston Villa’s Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who had earlier won the Golden Glove medal at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 2022 FIFA Puskas Award, given to the best goal scored in 2022, was handed to Warta Poznan’s amputee footballer from Poland, Marcin Oleksy, by Italian icon Alessandro Del Piero.
Sarina Wiegman, the head coach of the England women’s national football team, has been voted the Best FIFA Women’s Coach for 2022.
The 2022 Best FIFA Men’s Coach title went to Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni, who led Argentina to victory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 2022 FIFA Fair Play Award went to Cremonese’s Georgian defender Luka Lochoshvili.
Cremonese’s Georgian defender Luka Lochoshvili won the 2022 FIFA Fair Play Award.
The 2022 FIFA Fan Award was presented to Argentinian supporters, who soared with joy after Argentina’s 2022 FIFA World Cup glory.
The players who were included in the FIFPRO Women’s World 11 are as follows:
Christiane Endler (Olympique Lyonnais, Chile), Lucy Bronze (Manchester City/Barcelona, England), Mapi Leon (Barcelona, Spain), Wendie Renard (Olympique Lyonnais, France), Leah Williamson (Arsenal, England), Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg, Germany), Alexia Putellas (Barcelona, Spain), Keira Walsh (Manchester City/Barcelona, England), Sam Kerr (Chelsea, Australia), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave, USA) and Beth Mead (Arsenal, England).
The players who were included in the FIFPRO Men’s World 11 are as follows:
Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium), Joao Cancelo (Manchester City/Bayern Munich, Portugal), Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, Netherlands), Casemiro (Real Madrid/Manchester United, Brazil), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium), Luka Modric (Real Madrid, Croatia), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France), Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City, Norway), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France) and Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain, Argentina).