Lionel Messi had a great 2023 on a personal note. The World Cup winner gained all the possible individual awards thanks to his World Cup triumph in December 2022. He claimed his eighth Ballon d’Or award, the most of any player in history, and also won TIME’s Athlete of the Year award, the first time a soccer player would ever win the prestigious accolade.
His run of individual laurels has continued into 2024, with the Argentine winning FIFA The Best Men’s Player of the Year award ahead of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. A publication revealed a number of captains that voted for Lionel Messi to bring the award home ahead of other big names.
Lionel Messi wins FIFA Best Men’s Player 2023
Lionel Messi didn’t have the best of years on a collective term in 2023, as fans booed him off the pitch after PSG’s untimely exit from the Champions League in the Round of 16 last year. Messi and Neymar were made the scapegoats for PSG’s failure to land their continental trophy despite boasting the most expensive and lethal frontline in history.
The Argentine left the French club in the summer to sign for Inter Miami in the MLS, to the shock of everyone, as they thought he prioritized a move to rejoin his boyhood club Barcelona.
He went on a goalscoring run for the Florida-based franchise, winning the club its first trophy as they claimed the inaugural Leagues Cup trophy in August. Although he couldn’t inspire Inter Miami to the MLS playoffs, it was considered a successful season for the team, which has since signed Luis Suarez to support Messi in attack and is even looking to bring in Philippe Coutinho on loan from Aston Villa.
Lionel Messi’s exploits for the window period of the FIFA Best Awards from December 19, 2022, to August 20, 2023, earned him his third FIFA Best Award, and his second in a row after winning it in 2022 also.
Messi won the award ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, his two other nominees for the 2023 Ballon d’Or award. Fans could argue that Erling Haaland deserved it better for claiming the treble with Manchester City.
Notable captains voted Lionel Messi Best Men’s Player 2023
Lionel Messi managed to win the FIFA Best Men’s Player award, thanks to votes from captains of some national teams, including his former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe.
Mo Salah, the captain of the Egypt national team, ranked Lionel Messi first in his voting before other players. Son Heung-Min also took the responsibility as the captain of the South Korea national team to vote for Lionel Messi ahead of any other player.
Robert Lewandowski, Luka Modric, Harry Kane, Jan Oblak, Luka Modric, Granit Xhaka, Andrew Robertson, Gigi Donnarumma, Radamel Falcao, Romelu Lukaku, Fede Valverde, and Christian Pulisic are among the other national team captains that voted for Lionel Messi as the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year 2023.
Understandably, Pepe, who was standing in for Cristiano Ronaldo as the captain of Portugal, didn’t rank Messi at all in his voting. Instead, the former Real Madrid man voted for Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, and Victor Osimhen.
Should Erling Haaland have won the award ahead of Lionel Messi?
