Paris Saint Germain and Argentina forward, Lionel Messi is the winner of the 2022 The Best FIFA men’s player of the year award.
The 2022 FIFA Awards was held in Paris, France on Monday, February 27, featuring top players, coaches, and teams.
Winners of the awards are voted by captains of national teams and coaches, including football journalists and fans.
While the World Football’s Governing Body have a list of awards in selected categories, all eyes and attention were on the best player award, which Lionel Messi took him on Monday night.
Lionel Messi, and his PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe wrestle for the award after a brilliant World Cup showing.
Karim Benzema was a third force after he won last year’s Ballon d’Or. The three players had a brilliant football career in 2022.
Karim Benzema deserved his Ballon d’Or award after scoring 41 goals in 41 appearances for Real Madrid last season, and helping the Los Blancos win the Champions League and the La Liga title.
However, the winner of the FIFA Best Player award had to be different from the winner of the Ballon d’Or due to the big national team tournament – the 2022 World Cup which was prioritized in naming winners at the FIFA award.
While the Real Madrid forward would have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, he was ruled out of the World Cup and was obviously at a disadvantage after missing the tournament due to injury.
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe then went head-to-head after a brilliant World Cup display. Kylian Mbappe was France Best Player last year. He also finished as the Ligue 1 top scorer, and led France to the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in the final after George Heist of England in 1966.
Mbappe won the golden boot in the tournament, finishing with 8 goals, one better than his PSG teammate Lionel Messi.
Lional Messi, on the other hand, did not come out strong for PSG in French Ligue compared to Kylian Mbappe. He, However, peeped the French youngster to the World Cup trophy with Argentina and also won the most valuable player of the tournament.
Other 2022 The Best FIFA Award Winners
Emiliano Martínez wins best men’s goalkeeper. The Aston Villa goalkeeper helped Argentina win the 2022 World Cup against France after penalty shootouts.
He snatched the award from 2022 World Cup star Morocco’s Yassine Bounou and Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni was named Best Fifa Men’s Coach after he led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup victory in Qatar.
Georgian Luka Lochoshvili wins the Fair Play Award. Lochoshvili bagged the award after he reportedly assisted Georg Teigl of Austria Wien who reportedly fell unconscious.
Now playing for Cremonese, Lochoshvili joined the awards ceremony via a video link because he was currently at Cremonese because of the Serie A clash between the club and Roma on Tuesday.
Other award winners included Marcin Oleksy of Poland, who won Puskás Award for best goal
Mary Earps of Manchester United snatch the Fifa Women’s Goalkeeper of the year award.
The FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World Eleven features Mead, Morgan, Kerr, Oberdorf, Walsh, Leon, Williamson Bronze, Renard and Endler.
The Men’s World Eleven features Courtois, Hakimi, Cancelo, Van Dijk, De Bruyne, Modric, Casemiro, Messi, Mbappé.
The best Women’s Player of the year award was won by Barcelona’s Alexis Putellas, who won the LaLiga women title with Barcelona and also led the club to UEFA Women’s Champions League final in 2022.
