Argentina Forward Lionel Messi has won men’s player of the year at the Fifa Best Awards in London.
Messi who plays for Inter Miami edged out Manchester City’s striker Erling Haaland with Paris St-Germain attacker Kylian Mbappe third.
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.
Messi began 2023 at Paris St-Germain, before moving to Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami in June.
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 grabbed 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 netted 18 goals for his French club during the window of 19 December 2022 to 20 August 2023 – the period the awards were based on.
Votes from national team managers and captains, journalists and fans on Fifa’s website – with each counting for 25% – are used to decide the winners.
Messi and Haaland finished on the same amount of points, with Messi getting the award as he had more first-place nominations from national team captains.
Among the national team captains who voted for Messi were Harry Kane, Mbappe, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Aaron Ramsey and Luka Modric, while Ilkay Gundogan and Casemiro voted for Haaland, as did Messi himself.
England boss Gareth Southgate gave his vote to Haaland, while Wales’ Robert Page and Scotland’s Steve Clarke voted for Messi.
The Fifa Best Awards generally cover a calendar year and are different to the Ballon d’Or awards, which reflect performances across a season and which Messi has won on eight occasions.
However, this year, the men’s Fifa Best Awards, and Puskas Award, were judged from 19 December, 2022 to 20 August 2023, because the Qatar World Cup was included in last year’s ceremony.
Men’s coach of the year was the first award of the night, with Guardiola winning it ahead of Luciano Spalletti and Simone Inzaghi.
Spalletti guided Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years with a record-equalling five games to spare.
Inzaghi was nominated after winning the Coppa Italia with Inter Milan and taking them to the Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Manchester City.
Brighton’s Enciso misses out on Puskas Award
Brighton midfielder Julio Enciso was one of three nominations for the Puskas Award, handed out to the player that had scored the best goal.
The award – named after Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas – was decided by pundits.
Enciso scored a spectacular long-range strike in the Seagulls’ 1-1 draw at home against Manchester City on 23 May, but missed out on the award, which went to Brazilian Guilherme Madruga, who plays for second-tier Brazil side Botafogo after a spectacular 25-yard overhead kick.
