The Best Fifa awards LIVE: Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema, and Kylian Mbappe nominated for top men’s prize
Who will triumph at Fifa’s annual awards ceremony?
The seventh annual Fifa Best Awards takes place this evening with a host of football’s biggest stars, including the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, nominated for the top prizes. Three finalists in each category have been confirmed ahead of the ceremony in Paris.
France’s Karim Benzema, along with Messi and Mbappe has been nominated for the Best Fifa Men’s Player award whilst England’s Beth Mead is competing against the USA’s Alex Morgan and 2021 winner Alexia Putellas for the Fifa Best Women’s Player award. Elsewhere, England boss Sarina Wiegman is nominated for Fifa Best Women’s Coach and the Puskas Award will be handed out to the male or female judged to have scored the “most beautiful” goal of the calendar year.
This year saw major tournaments in both men’s and women’s football meaning men’s World Cup winners Argentina and England’s Euro 2022-winning Lionesses are both in line for a trophy-laden night. The great and the good will all be gathered in Paris for a ceremony that should celebrate a fantastic year of football.
Follow along with out live blog as the Fifa Best award winners are announced:
Lionel Messi wins Fifa’s The Best after World Cup triumph as Alexia Putellas retains women’s award
Lionel Messi has been crowned The Best player in men’s football, winning Fifa’s flagship award as the game’s top star after leading his Argentina national team to the World Cup in December.
This marks the second time he has won the award since Fifa started their separate ceremony in 2016, following his triumph three years ago - while last year he was edged out into second place by Robert Lewandowski.
For his heroics in Qatar though he beat two men to the prize whose nation also finished runner-up at that tournament, French forwards Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe.
Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas - widely regarded as the top women’s player but sidelined since summer with an ACL injury - beat challengers including England’s Beth Mead and US star Alex Morgan to retain the title she won a year ago as the women’s Best player.
Every player and coach to win at Fifa’s The Best awards
England Women manager Sarina Wiegman took the top prize as Best coach, while Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps was also honoured
Fifa Best Awards
Here are all of the winners from The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022.
Best Men’s Player - Lionel Messi
Best Women’s Player - Alexia Putellas
Best Men’s Goalkeeper - Emiliano Martinez
Best Women’s Goalkeeper - Mary Earps
Best Men’s Coach - Lionel Scaloni
Best Women’s Coach - Sarina Wiegman
Puskas Award - Marcin Oleksy
The FIFA Fair Play Award - Luka Lochoshvili
The FIFA Fan Award - Argentinian fans
Fifa Best Awards - Messi’s full speech
“Wow it’s amazing. With (Karim) Benzema who isn’t here and Kylian (Mbappe), it’s been a tremendous year,” said Messi upon receiving the award. “It’s an honour for me to be here tonight and to win this award.
“Obviously I’d like to express thanks to my team mates, (Lionel) Scaloni — without them, I wouldn’t be here. I’d like to pay tribute to all of my team mates and the team as a whole, we did such a great job.
“I achieved the dream that I’d been hoping for for so long and finally I managed to achieve it. It is the most wonderful thing that happened to me in my career. Very few people achieve that and I’ve been lucky enough to do so.
“Finally, I’d like to thank my family and the people back in Argentina for having celebrated this wonderful achievement that will go down in the memory for so long.”
Fifa Best Awards
"Wow, it’s amazing.” says Messi in his acceptance speech, “It’s been a tremendous year and it’s an honour for me to be here tonight and win this award.
“Without my team-mates I wouldn’t be here. I achieved the dream I had been hoping for for so long. Very few people can achieve that and I have been lucky to do so."
Fifa Best Awards
Lionel Messi wins the Fifa Best Men’s Player Award for the second time. He joins Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo in the exclusive club of two-time winners.
Fifa Best Awards
"Honestly I hadn’t really prepared anything to say," said Barcelona star Alexia Putellas after winning the award for Best Women’s Player. "I just want to say thank you to everyone who voted for me.
"I’d like to start by thanking my family, all of my people, my team mates, staff, the club, the president, everybody who has been with me and everyone who has been working behind the scenes at the club.
"I’d just like to spare a thought for all of those who work tirelessly to support me — they have made me who I am today so thank you to all of those people."
Fifa Best Awards
The Best Men’s Player Award goes to Lionel Messi!
Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup trophy leading his country, Argentina, to victory over France in the final and winning the Golden Ball as Player of the Tournament.
Fifa Best Awards
The final prize of the night is the Best Men’s Player Award. Any one of the three nominees would be a worthy winner but you’d be a fool to bet against Lionel Messi.
The nominees are:
Lionel Messi (PSG, Argentina)
Kylian Mbappe (PSG, France)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)
Fifa Best Awards
There’s no doubt that Alexia Putellas is a world class player but that one is a slight shock.
Beth Mead was in with a good chance after ending Euro 2022 as the Top Goalscorer and Player of the Tournament.
Fifa Best Awards
Alexia Putellas wins the Best Women’s Player Award! It’s the second consecutive year that she’s taking home the award.
She won the league with Barcelona in 2021-22 and at the age of 29 is widely regarded as one of the best players in women’s football.
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