News: Lionel Messi named men's player of the year
Lionel Messi has been named men's player of the year at the 2022 Best Fifa Awards.
The World Cup winner beat French forwards Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema to the prize. He captained Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar, and scored 27 goals in 49 games for club and country in 2021-22.
Liam, a Manchester United fan, told us: "You have to say, he deserves it. The World Cup was the crowning glory of this career."
In a long statement, Messi told the media: "It's amazing. It's an honour for me to be here tonight and win this award. Without my team-mates I wouldn't be here. It was an amazing year and I achieved the dream that I've been hoping for so long and finally, I managed to achieve it."
Manuel, a PSG fan, was delighted with Messi winning the award: "He deserves this award. However, more for his performances with Argentina then PSG sadly. I don't think we have seen the best of him in Paris."
This is a full list of the other winners from the ceremony with some key information.
The Best women's player: Alexia Putellas
Spain and Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas was the women's player of the year. Putellas scored 34 times last season, winning the player award for the second year running.
The Best men's goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
Another Argentina World Cup winner. He dedicated the award to his parents. Speaking in Spanish, he told the media: “When they ask me about my idols, I remember my mother cleaning buildings for 8/9 hours, watching my father work, they are my true idols. Thank you all.”
The Best women's goalkeeper: Mary Earps
Earps was named the best goalkeeper in the women's game. She's also played a part in England's success and also became the first goalkeeper to keep 50 clean sheets in the Women's Super League for Manchester United.
This video (Manchester United Women - Mary Earps' Best Saves of the Season - YouTube) shows some of her best moments.
The Best men's coach: Lionel Scaloni
Scaloni beat Pep Guardiola - who guided Manchester City to a sixth Premier League title - and Real Madrid's Champions League-winning boss Carlo Ancelotti to the honour.
The Best women's coach: Sarina Wiegman
Wiegman guided England to European Championship glory on home soil last year, the team's first major trophy. This was the first trophy that any senior England team had won since 1966.
Read more about that memorable final here: Women's Euro 2022: England win after dramatic final (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com)
The Best fan award: Argentina fans
At the World Cup, thousands of Argentina fans were chanting iconic songs such as Muchachos, the Argentinian faithful brought no little warmth and colour to the stadiums of the country all to the beat of their drums, which came in all shapes and sizes. Check out this video of them against Netherlands.
The Best fair play award: Luka Lochoshvili
Watch this incredible moment here.
🚨🇬🇪 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋: Luka Lochoshvili won the FIFA fair play award — his quick thinking helped save the life of Austria Wien player, Georg Teigl. pic.twitter.com/M4XgEgljcb
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) February 27, 2023
The Best Puskas award: Marcin Oleksy
Marcin Oleksy took home the Puskas Award for best goal of the year. He scored an incredible goal for the Warta Poznan amputee football team in their win against Stal Rzeszow in November.
Marcin Oleksy Goal vs Stal Rzeszow | FIFA Puskas Award 2022 Nominee - YouTube
One YouTuber commented: "The difficulty to even do this with two legs is insane. On crutches, with only one leg is almost impossible. Astonishing goal."
