Messi is recognized as the best footballer of the year – Football – Sportacentrs.com

National team captains, head coaches and media representatives take part in the voting for the best football player.

Lionel Messi was holding the World Cup over his head in mid-December. With seven goals, he became the second best sniper of the tournament, behind only French forward Kylian Mbappe, who lost in the final, but three assists allowed Messi to share first place. He was also recognized as the best player of the World Cup.

Messi received 52 points in the vote, while Mbappe was second with 44 points. The third place was won by the captain of “Real Madrid”, Karim Benzema, who missed the World Cup due to injury, but managed to triumph in the Champions League in the spring.

FIFA has been presenting the award in its current format since 2016, when it split from Ballon d’Or. This became Messi’s second award. He previously triumphed in 2019, when he left behind Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In both 2021 and 2020, the Polish sniper Robert Lewandowski was chosen as the best football player in the world. Last year he was just four points ahead of Messi, while two years ago Cristiano Ronaldo was overtaken by 14 points.

The manager of the Argentine national team was recognized as the coach of the year Lionel Scalonibut the best goalkeeper award went to Argentina’s number one Emiliano Martiness, who saved in the final against France both in the last seconds of extra time and in the penalty shootout. Argentina also won the quarter-finals against the Netherlands on penalties.

Last year’s symbolic selection was also named, which included three Paris Saint-Germain footballers – Messi, Mbappe and fullback Ashraf Hakimi from surprising semi-finalist Morocco.

Symbolic sampling