PARIS, France
LIONEL MESSI continued his
stellar season after being named World player of the year at the FIFA Best
Awards in Paris tonight.
The Paris Saint-Germain star,
35, crowned his career by leading Argentina to their first World Cup since 1986
in December and scooped a second Best men's player title here.
Messi, who scored twice in the
final against France, also won the Golden Ball in Qatar, having claimed the
Ligue 1 title with PSG earlier in the year. His 12 league goals this season
have helped the champions to an eight-point lead in defending their title this
term.
Messi, whose Argentina boss
Lionel Scaloni was named as the best men's coach ahead of Pep Guardiola, pipped
PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid's Karim Benzema to the award.
Messi has now won two 'The Best' awards, meaning he is level with Robert Lewandowski and his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo who have also been honoured twice.
The former Barcelona man also
now has ten individual gongs across both the FIFA Best, Ballon d'Or and FIFA
player of the year awards, two more than Ronaldo.
He said: "It is an
amazing pleasure to be here, alongside Benzema and Mbappe, who had a wonderful year.
"It was an amazing year
and I achieved a dream that I had been hoping for for so long.
"I want to pay tribute to
all of my teammates and my coach, without them I wouldn't be here."
The star attended the
exclusive bash alongside his wife Antonela and a host of fellow stars.
Kylian Mbappe was there with
his dad Wilfried and was named in the FIFPRO World XI alongside Messi, but lost
out on the Best Player award to his PSG team-mate.
Prem stars including Emi
Martinez - who won Best Goalkeeper - and Casemiro and Virgil van Dijk, both
also named in the Team of 2022, attended with their other halves.
In the Women's game, England
boss Sarina Wiegman and Manchester United's Mary Earps won best women's coach
and goalkeeper respectively following their Euro 2022 glory last summer.
Earps said: "I don't
really know what to say, thank you to everyone who voted for me. I feel really
honoured to be holding this really heavy trophy. I want to say thank you to my
loved ones who have picked me up off the kitchen floor to be here today, not
today but in the past.
“This is for anyone who has
ever been in a dark place. You can achieve anything you set your mind to.
There’s only one of you in the world, be unapologetically yourself."
Wiegman, winning the award for
a third time, added: "The Euros were incredible, as the English say we
brought it home."
Meanwhile Beth Mead was pipped
to the best women's award by Alexia Putellas but she was named in the women's
World XI alongside three Lionesses teammates, Lucy Bronze, Leah Williamson and
Keira Walsh.
Other huge names at the
star-studded do in Paris included Brazil legend Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Arsene
Wenger, Joao Cancelo and, of course, FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Jermaine Jenas was there to host the event - which left fans hugely impressed with the job of his agent.
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| Mbappe showed up to the Paris bash with his dad Wilfried |
As many had expected
beforehand, the night belonged to Messi, who has been enjoying yet another
record-breaking season for both club and country.
Since the start of the 2022-23
campaign he has recorded an incredible total of 17 goals and 16 assists in 28
appearances for PSG.
And he also managed to finally
get his hands on the only trophy to have eluded him previously - the World Cup.
Messi led
his Argentina teammates to glory in Qatar last year and claimed the
prestigious Player of the Tournament Award in the process.
His red-hot form has continued
into 2023 with PSG in pole position to retain their Ligue 1 title.
Messi left fans stunned when
he scored his 700th
career club goal on Sunday.
He netted once for PSG during
the club's 3-0 win over Marseille and claimed the assist for both of Mbappe's goals.
So it hardly came as a
surprise to fans when he took to the stage in Paris to accept 'The Best' award.
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