Lionel Messi has added another honour to his already-impressive list of accolades.
The Argentine has been named Best Men’s Player at the 2022 FIFA Best Awards, capping a remarkable year in which he finally won his elusive World Cup title and helped PSG to the Ligue 1 trophy.
Messi’s PSG colleague Kylian Mbappe had been the other finalist, alongside another Frenchman - Karim Benzema of Real Madrid.
Argentina also completed a clean sweep of the FIFA men’s awards, with Emiliano Martinez named Best Goalkeeper…ahead of Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois and Morocco’s Yassine Bounou.
Lionel Scaloni took home the Best Coach honour, after guiding La Albiceleste to the World Cup title in December.
Argentina supporters also bagged the best fan award for good measure.
Meanwhile, Messi, Mbappe and Benzema were also named in the FIFA Best XI team of the year.
The others who made the cut were Thibaut Courtois, Achraf Hakimi, Virgil Van Dijk, Joao Cancelo, Casemiro, Kevin de Bruyne, Luka Modric and Erling Haaland.
In the women’s category, Barcelona and Spain star Alexia Putellas was named the Best Women’s Player, adding on to her Balon d’Or Femenin accolade.
Sarina Weigman clinched the Best Women’s Coach honour after guiding England to the European Championship title.
Special mention goes to Polish amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy, who won the Puskas Award for goal of the year, for a stunning bicycle-kick goal for Warta Poznan against Stal Rzeszow.
Oleksy is the first amputee player to win the prize, whose previous winners include Son Heung Min, Mo Salah and Malaysia’s own Faiz Subri.
