Best Fifa Football Awards: Messi surpasses Mbappé. Ancelotti beaten by Scaloni

Leo Messi won “The Best” Fifa, the ceremony of which took place tonight in Paris. The Argentine champion, present like his teammate Mbappé, who finished in second place (Benzema, third, deserted the event), was the most voted (52 preferences against the 44 of the French) by the jury made up of captains and coaches of national teams from all over the world, but also by journalists. In front of an impressive audience made up of many former footballers, female footballers and personalities from the world of football (the Phenomenon Ronaldo, Cambiasso, Sneijder, Del Piero, Wenger, Desailly, Drogba, Zanetti, Roberto Carlos, Bounou, Nuno Gomes, Cannavaro, Capello, Djorkaeff, Makelele, Karembeu, Suazo, Richarlison, Laporta, Papin, Al-Khelaifi, Zenga and Collina, just to name a few), the “Pulce” was awarded by the FIFA president Infantino who said: “Messi and Mbappé they were fantastic protagonists of the most beautiful final of the most beautiful World Cup ever”. Then all the spotlights went to Leo who attended the evening alongside Mbappé, hugged him after the announcement and, smiling, explained: “It’s a pleasure to be here with all of you, after an exceptional year in which we won the World Cup with Dibu, Scaloni and the whole group. It was a crazy thing and I crowned the dream of my life, which I chased for so long with persistence and determination. Thank God I finally lifted the World Cup. I thank my family and the people of Argentina. This memory will stay with us for a lifetime.”

BEST COACH

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Our Carlo Ancelotti, among the three finalists after leading Real Madrid to victory in the Champions League, was unable to overcome Scaloni, fresh from renewing his contract until 2026 with Argentina and triumphant in Qatar. Carletto knew how it would end, plus the semi-final of the King’s Cup against Barcelona is scheduled for Thursday, and he didn’t fly to Paris. The Seleccion coach was awarded by Fabio Capello, shortly after being embraced in the audience by “his” Leo Messi. “I thank the 26 players who brought us to world glory – said Scaloni -, the president of the Argentine federation, all the members of my technical staff. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing the people of your country happy. Ours triumph in Qatar was for them, for my parents, my brother and my wife”.

BEST GOALKEEPER

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In the running were Yassine Bounou of Sevilla, great protagonist with Morocco at the World Cup, Thibaut Courtois, winner of the Champions League with Real Madrid, and Emiliano Martínez, winner in Qatar with Argentina. Martinez raised the award for best goalkeeper and was awarded on stage by the former Inter player Julio Cesar. “I’ve done a lot of apprenticeship – said ‘Dibu’ – and being able to triumph in the World Cup final was something exceptional. Thanks to my family, Aston Villa and Argentina. My idols? Mine parents and especially my mother who cleaned 8 hours a day”. Then the tears of emotion.

BEST GOAL

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The Polish Marcin Oleksy, the French Dimitri Payet and the Brazilian Richarlison were fighting for the award for the best goal, named after Puskas. It was our Alex Del Piero, elegant and wearing a pair of eyeglasses with a showy black frame, who presented the recognition to Oleksy for the bicycle kick scored in the Polish championship for amputees with his Warta Poznań in the match against Stal Rzeszów on November 6, 2022. Applause and emotion.

TOP ELEVEN

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The election of the best team of 2022 was not lacking. They included, in an improbable 3-3-4, the goalkeeper Courtois, the defenders Hakimi, Van Dijk and Cancelo, the midfielders De Bruyne, Modric and Casemiro and the forwards Messi , Mbappé, Benzema and Haaland. Courtois, De Bruyne, Modric, Benzema and Haaland were not on stage.

FEMALE AWARDS

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Among women, the award for best goalkeeper went to Manchester United’s Mary Earps who was also awarded as best number one at the last European Championship. The best player, however, was Alexia Putellas of Barcelona who overtook Alex Morgan and Bethany Mead. Sarina Wiegman, coach of England who won the last European against Germany, won the award for best coach. The best eleven (module 4-3-3) for FifPrp were: Claudia Christiane Ender; Lucy Bronze, Maria Leon, Leah Williamson, Wendie Renard; Alexia Putellas, Keira Walsh, Lena Oberdorf; Alex Morgan, Sam Kerr and Bethany Mead.

PELE’ AND CREMONESE

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The evening had begun with the intervention of Infantino who, speaking of the last few months, had defined them as “very sad” for the disappearance of Mihajlovic and Vialli, before concentrating on the memory of Pelé. “He was the King-said the Fifa number one-, he was football. We miss him, but the memory of him will remain with us forever. He will always be here”. Also touching are the words of the Phenomenon Ronaldo who then presented Pelé’s third wife with an award in memory of the three-time Brazilian world champion. Finally celebration for… the Cremonese: the Georgian Luka Lochoshvili was awarded the Fair Play award.