Lionel Messi won the Fifa Men's Player of the Year award on Monday with
Megan Rapinoe bagging the women's prize to cap a historic year for the United
States' World Cup icon.
Barcelona striker Messi's victory in Milan was a surprise
as he edged out Virgil Van Dijk, who won the Uefa player's award last month
after helping Liverpool to the Champions League last season.
Juventus's forward Cristiano Ronaldo had also been
shortlisted for the award, but did not attend the ceremony as he lost out to
his rival in the famous La Scala opera house.
Both Messi,
32, and Van Dijk, 28, are now in the running for the coveted Ballon d'Or which
will be announced on December 2.
Rapinoe beat fellow World Cup winner Alex Morgan and
England's Lucy Bronze to the women's title, with US coach Jill Ellis winning
women's coaching award.
The 34-year-old Rapinoe won the Golden Boot for being top
scorer and the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup, and also
became the face of the tournament for her outspoken views on US president
Donald Trump.
Messi was top scorer in the Champions League last season
with 12 goals before Barcelona were dumped out by Liverpool in the semifinals,
Barca throwing away a three-goal first-leg lead with a humiliating 4-0 defeat
at Anfield.
The Argentine also won the European Golden Shoe after
scoring 36 goals, won La Liga title with Barcelona and helped Argentina to
bronze at 2019 Copa America.
Van Dijk had been bidding to become just the second
defender – after Italian Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 – to be recognised by Fifa as
the world's best player.
And he missed out on completing a treble for Liverpool
with manager Jurgen Klopp winning the men's coach of the year award and Alisson
Becker the goalkeeper prize.
Klopp won the Champions League with Liverpool ahead of
two other Premier League coaches – Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino, who reached
the European final, and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola.
 |
| Lionel Messi poses with his wife Antonella Roccuzzo Messi and their children at the end of The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony where Messi won the Best FIFA Men's Player of 2019 |
"I have to say thank you to my outstanding club
Liverpool FC. Those who don't love it don't have a heart.
"As a coach you can only be as good as your team.
I'm really proud of being coach of such an incredible bunch of players."
Two-time women's World Cup-winning coach Ellis, beat
Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman, runner-up in France 2019, and England's Phil
Neville for the award.
"The World Cup really was a showcase, the world fell
even more in love with the game," said 53-year-old Ellis, who will step
down from the team in October.
Romanian-born Hungarian forward Daniel Zsori won the Fifa
Puskas Award for the best goal, beating strikes from Messi and Juan Fernando
Quintero.
The 18-year-old forward, on his debut, scored a
spectacular overhead kick to win the game for his side Debrecen against
Ferencvaros in stoppage time.
LIST OF
WINNERS
Best men's
player: Lionel Messi (ARG/Barcelona)
Best women's
player: Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC)
Best men's
goalkeeper: Alisson Becker (BRA/Liverpool)
Best women's
goalkeeper: Sari van Veenendaal
(NED/Atletico Madrid)
Men's World 11
team of year: Alisson Becker
(BRA/Liverpool); Sergio Ramos (ESP/Real Madrid), Virgil Van Dijk
(NED/Liverpool), Matthijs De Ligt (NED/Juventus), Marcelo (BRA/Real Madrid);
Luka Modric (CRO/Real Madrid), Frenkie De Jong (NED/Barcelona), Eden Hazard
(BEL/Real Madrid); Lionel Messi (ARG/FC Barcelona), Kylian Mbappe (FRA/PSG),
Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Juventus)
Women's World
11 team of year: Sari Van Veenendaal
(NED/Atletico Madrid); Lucy Bronze (ENG/Lyon), Wendie Renard (FRA/Lyon), Nilla
Fischer (SWE/Linkopings), Kelly O'Hara (USA/Utah Royals); Amandine Henry
(FRA/Lyon), Julie Ertz (USA/Chicago), Rose Lavelle (USA/Washington); Marta
(BRA/Orlando), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC)
Men's
coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Women's coach: Jill Ellis (USA)
Puskas Award
best goal: Daniel Zsori (HUN/Debrecen)
Fair-play
award: Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United
No comments:
Post a Comment