Lionel Messi wins The Best FIFA Football Award 2023

Lionel Messi has been crowned the best male player in the world at The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023 in London.

The great and good of the football world descended on London on Monday evening for the glittering awards ceremony, with the best players on the planet going head-to-head for the prize.

Ahead of the ceremony the list of mens nominations was whittled down to just three: Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.

Messi was a shoe-in to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or, as his World Cup triumph with Argentina in December 2022 was taken into consideration.

For The Fifa Best Award prize though, voters were instructed to judge nominees on their performances between December 19, 2022 (the day after the World Cup final) and August 20, 2023.

A mix of national team captains, journalists, coaches and fans voted through FIFA's website, making for a close contest.

Messi won the fans and national team captains votes, but Haaland was picked by journalists and coaches.

The duo were tied on overall points, but the Argentine won the tie-breaker of receiving the most first-choice selections.

The 2022 FIFA winner and Ballon d'Or holder won Ligue 1 with PSG before joining MLS side Inter Miami.

In his first month at the club he almost single-handedly won the club its first ever trophy, scoring 10 goals in seven games as Miami won the inaugural Leagues Cup.

Haaland enjoyed a record-breaking 2022/23 season with Manchester City, and in the voting period won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. In that time the Norwegian striker scored 28 goals in all competitions.

Mbappe is a tad unfortunate not to have already won The Best or Ballon d'Or awards. During the judgement period, Mbappe won the Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain and won the golden boot for the fifth consecutive season.

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Topics: Lionel Messi, FIFA, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a Sports Trends Writer at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He enjoys running, cooking and watching non-league football.

@alex_brotherton