Lionel Messi crowned as The Best by FIFA once again as Argentina sweep all major men’s awards

Lionel Messi won the FIFA Best Men’s Player in the World for the seventh time in his illustrious career while Barcelona’s Alexis Putellas was crowned as the FIFA Best Women’s Player.

It was another glorious night for World champions Argentina at FIFA’s The Best annual awards show at the Salle Pleyel in Paris as they swept all major awards including the Best Men’s Player, Best Men’s Coach, Best Men’s Goalkeeper as well as the FIFA Fan Award.

Headlining the night was, of course, Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi. The 35-year-old beat the competition in his PSG teammate and France’s Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid’s Champions League winner and reigning Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema to win the award for a record-extending seventh time in his career!

The three players - Messi, Mbappe, and Benzema - had made the final shortlist in voting by a global panel of national team captains and coaches, selected journalists in each of FIFA’s 211 member countries, plus fans online.

Since its current appearance as the FIFA The Best award following the split from Ballon d’Or in 2016, Messi has won this award twice - in 2019 and 2023 - joining an elite list of only Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski to have won The Best twice.

Messi had recorded his first appearance at the FIFA gala back in 2007. The former Barcelona captain had finished second behind Kaka in the FIFA World Player of the Year standings at the time. This time around, he was present in company with the newest generation featuring Mbappe, and took home his seventh prize.

While Messi was crowned as the Best Men’s Player in the World, Spain and Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas won the FIFA Best Women’s Player in the World for the second year in a row. She saw off competition from USA’s Alex Morgan and England’s Beth Mead with the latter winning the Euros with her country in 2022.

Putellas spent a large portion of this season out injured but her performances with Barcelona towards the closing stages of the last season were convincing enough for the jury. Mead was the joint top scorer at the Euro, and was named the tournament’s best player. Morgan, meanwhile, was player of the tournament when the U.S. won the CONCACAF W Championship last year while also being the joint top-scorer.

Earlier, Argentina’s Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martinez picked up the Best Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year award. He had also received the Golden Glove trophy following his decisive performances with Argentina during the World Cup in Qatar.

Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni was also elected as the Best Men’s Coach ahead of the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola. Scaloni had taken over the national side at the end of 2018 on an interim basis, and was widely criticized for lacking experience as he had never coached a professional team before. However, he has now led them to consecutive successes after winning both the Copa America and the FIFA World Cup.

Earlier on Monday, his contract as the national team coach was extended to the end of the 2026 World Cup.

The women’s coach award went to Sarina Wiegman, who led the England to the title at the Women’s European Championship. Meanwhile, the women’s goalkeeper award was given to Euro winner Mary Earps of England.

Specially abled Polish footballer Marcin Oleksy won the prestigious FIFA Puskas Award following his outrageous scissor kick attempt on one leg.