Erling Haaland becomes only the fifth player to win rare award that Cristiano Ronaldo has never won before

Erling Haaland has become the fifth player to win a rare award that Cristiano Ronaldo has never won.

Ahead of the 22/23 season, Haaland joined Manchester City from German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth a reported £52 million.

Since then, he has hit the ground running straight away as he netted 52 goals in 53 matches across all competitions. He also broke the record for most goals scored in one Premier League season after scoring 36.

The Norwegian played an integral part as City went on to win a historic treble.

Now, to cap off his wonderful year, he has been named IFFHS Men’s World Best Player of 2023.

Haaland is only the fifth player to get their hands on the award after Marco Van Basten, Lothar Matthaus, Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi.

According to IFFHS’s website, which states: “IFFHS was the first to create the Award of THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYER in 1988. Marco Van Basten (1988 and 1989) and Lothar Matthaus (1990) were the 3 winners (1988 to 1990) before FIFA President Sepp Blatter asked IFFHS to let this World Award to FIFA to become FIFA World Player of the Year.

“Since 2020, the IFFHS has decided to award again IFFHS WORLD’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR and Robert Lewandowski was the winner of the Awards 2020 and 2021, Lionel Messi won in 2022.”

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Haaland has missed City’s last few matches after suffering a foot injury.

When asked about Haaland’s fitness, City boss Pep Guardiola said: “Still he's not with the team. He feels better with his bone but he hasn't made one training session with us. Unfortunately December is so congested with so many teams.

“January is so congested. Hopefully in January he can come back with us.”

City will be back in Premier League action this weekend when they welcome Sheffield United to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.