Lionel Messi was controversially crowned FIFA Men's Player of the Year for 2023 and Aitana Bonmati added to her collection of individual honors at the awards ceremony in London.
Messi claimed the award for the third time, with the 36-year-old surprisingly ahead of Erling Haaland on an otherwise glorious night for Manchester City. The award only covers the period after Messi led Argentina to the world title in December 2022 until August 2023. During that time, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner ended his career poorly at Paris Saint-Germain, despite winning the Ligue 1 title, before joining MLS side Inter Miami in June. Messi quickly made his mark in the US, helping the franchise, part-owned by David Beckham, to its first trophy, winning the League Cup in August.
Haaland was favorite for the award after scoring 52 times in his debut season with City as the English side won a treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup. After receiving an equal number of points from the scoring system based on the votes of national team captains, coaches, journalists and fans, Messi was crowned the winner thanks to more first-choice nominations. Messi's former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe finished third. However, all three men's finalists did not attend the ceremony, leaving Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry, who co-hosted the event, to collect the award in Messi's absence.
Bonmati's selection as the Best Female Player was not in doubt as she won all the individual awards after helping Spain win the World Cup and Barcelona the Champions League in 2023. In recent months, the 25-year-old won Ballon d'Or, Ballon d'Or for World Cup Player and UEFA Player of the Year.
Pep Guardiola was named Best Coach after leading City to their first ever Champions League success. "We are here because we won a lot and the thousands of people who participated in our success", Guardiola said. "I'm really happy about the season we did because it was an amazing journey. We did it in the end, but the pleasure of being there was amazing".
Haaland was joined in the Team of the Year by five of his club teammates - Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Diaz, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. Thibaut Courtois, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior (all from Real Madrid), Messi and Mbappe completed the XI.
City's Ederson won the Men's Best Goalkeeper award, while Mary Earps of England and Manchester United won the Women's.
England coach Sarina Wiegman won the Women's Coach of the Year award after leading the Lionesses to the World Cup final. Seven of England's players were named in the Team of the Year: Earps, Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood, Keira Walsh, Alessia Russo, Lauren James and Ella Toone. Olga Carmona, who scored the winning goal in the World Cup final, was the only other Spaniard included alongside Bonmati, while American star Alex Morgan and Australia's Sam Kerr were also selected.
Brazil's men's team won the Fair Play Award after donning an all-black shirt for the first time in support of striker Vinicius, who suffered several incidents of racial abuse with Real last year. There was also Brazilian success at the Puskas Award for Best Goal, scored by Botafogo's Guilherme Madruga for a spectacular backscissor kick. /BGNES
