Lionel Messi clinched the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award for the third time in the last four years, beating Norwegian striker Erling Haaland in a closely contested race. Messi and Erling Haaland both registered 48 points, with the former emerging triumphant due to more votes from men’s national team captains.
The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award was won by Spanish attacker Aitana Bonmati of Barcelona on January 16 at the Best FIFA Awards ceremony held in London.
Messi extended his record number of FIFPRO Men’s World 11 inclusions to a mind-blowing 17. The 36-year-old, indeed, has not missed out on selection since Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o and Thierry Henry comprised the attack in 2006.
The Best Men’s Manager of 2023 title went to Pep Guardiola, the coach of Manchester City, who led his team to a treble-winning campaign. Guardiola finally won The Best FIFA Men’s Coach after three previous appearances on the podium. The Spaniard finished runner-up to Jurgen Klopp in 2019 and came third as Thomas Tuchel and Leonel Scaloni were crowned in 2021 and ’22 respectively.
For the fourth time in history, Sarina Wiegman, the coach of England, was named the women’s best coach. The Best Women’s Goalkeeper and Best Men’s Goalkeeper winners were Mary Earps of Manchester United and Ederson of Manchester City, respectively.
