Argentina's heroic star of the World Cup, Lionel Messi, has officially been named the Best FIFA Men's Player for 2022.
Messi, who is often touted as football's Greatest Of All Time (GOAT), beat out his Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) teammate Kylian Mbappe and 2022 Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema to take home the coveted award.
The voting is made up of fans, national team managers and national team captains like Messi, as well as 300 journalists across the world.
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Each category gets 25 per cent of the voting to give a more diverse and accurate view and the 35-year-old Argentinian superstar won extremely comprehensively.
Messi took home his latest prize mere months after he nabbed the real top gong for the year that had eluded him for his whole career: The FIFA World Cup.
Messi led Argentina to glory in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar back in December.
He scored a whopping seven times during the competition, including twice in the victory over France in the final to claim the Golden Ball.
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But he's also been in fine form for PSG after a difficult first season in Ligue One.
According to ESPN, Messi scored 16 goals in 27 games across all competitions in the 2022 season; reminding everyone what an absurdly gifted footballer he is.
Now, he's received another high honour in winning the Best FIFA Men's Player for 2022.
This is the second time Messi has taken home the award, with the first being in 2019.
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The Argentinian national captain said as per ESPN: "I want to express my thanks to [coach Lionel] Scaloni and my teammates; without them I would not be here.
"I achieved a dream I had been hoping for so long and finally I achieved it. It's a dream for any player; very few people can achieve that and I was lucky enough to do so."
He added: "It's amazing. It was a tremendous year and it is an honour for me to be here tonight and win this award."
Barcelona's Alexia Putellas took home the prize for the Best FIFA Women's award for the second year running.
Argentina's Scaloni and Emiliano Martinez both copped honours for top men's coach and goalkeeper.
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Messi's latest big win also means Diego Maradona was finally granted his wish five years after he said his soul was 'hurt' to hand the 2017 Best FIFA Men's Player award to Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and not Messi.
Well Maradona, looks like this one may be for you.
Topics: Lionel Messi, Sport, World Cup
Rachel Lang