Argentina forward Lionel Messi has won men’s player of the year at the Fifa Best Awards.
Also, Manchester City Manager, Pep Guardiola, has won the men’s Coach prize in London.
Inter Miami’s Messi finished ahead of City striker, Erling Haaland and Paris St-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe.
City’s Ederson collected the goalkeeper award, ahead of Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois and Al Hilal’s Yassine Bounou.
City won the Treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in 2022-23.
Messi, 36, began 2023 at Paris St-Germain, before moving to Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami in June.
He picked up the best men’s player award for the third time since this format of the awards began in 2016, after doing so in 2019 and 2022.
He scored nine goals for PSG as they won the French Ligue 1 title and 10 goals in seven games as Inter Miami won the inaugural Leagues Cup in the United States.
Haaland scored a record 36 Premier League goals last season. In all competitions in 2022-23, he scored a club-record 52 goals – with 28 of them coming after the World Cup, plus another two goals this season before 20 August.
France’s Mbappe, like Messi, won the Ligue 1 title with PSG – and clinched a fifth consecutive Golden Boot.
The 25-year-old scored 18 goals for his French club during the window of 19 December, 2022 to 20 August, 2023 – the period the awards were based on.
The Fifa Best Awards generally cover a calendar year and are different to the Ballon d’Or awards, which reflect performances across a season.
However, this year, the men’s awards – and Puskas Award – are judged from 19 December, 2022 to 20 August 2023, because the Qatar World Cup was included in last year’s ceremony.
A mix of votes from national team players and captains, journalists and fans on Fifa’s website – with each counting for 25 percent – are used to decide the winners, with men’s and women’s awards for best coach and goalkeeper.
The Puskas award – named after Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas – was decided by pundits.
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The ceremony took place at the Hammersmith Apollo in London with a host of the best players past and present in attendance.
The winners
FIFA Best Player Award (Men)
Lionel Messi – Inter Miami/Argentina
FIFA Best Player Award (Women)
Aitana Bonmatí – Barcelona/Spain
FIFA Coach of the Year (Men)
Pep Guardiola – Manchester City
FIFA Coach of the Year (Women)
Sarina Wiegman – England
Goalkeeper of the Year (Men)
Ederson – Manchester City
Goalkeeper of the Year (Women)
Mary Earps – Manchester United Women
Fair Play award
Brazil Senior National Team
FIFA Puskas Award
Guilherme Madruga – Botafogo-SP
FIFA Fan award
Club Atletico Colon fan.
BBC.
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