Lionel Messi was named FIFA player of the year 2022 on Monday as Argentina scooped all major men\u2019s awards after winning a vintage World Cup final last December.
\nThe 35-year-old forward scored two goals in the final against France, with the South Americans emerging triumphant on penalties following a 3-3 draw after extra time in Qatar.
\nMessi beat his Paris St Germain team-mate, and World Cup final rival, Kylian Mbappe to the gong with Ballon d\u2019Or winner Karim Benzema having been the other contender to claim the prize.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. It was a tremendous year and it is an honour for me to be here tonight and win this award\u201d, said Messi, who sat in between Mbappe and his wife Antonella Roccuzzo throughout the ceremony at Paris\u2019s Salle Pleyel.
\nMbappe, also nominated for the highly anticipated award of the night, netted a hat-trick in the World Cup final but his achievement was overshadowed as Messi finally won the most coveted trophy in world football.
\nHe also claimed the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament, although Mbappe was the top scorer with eight goals, one more than Messi.
\nIt is the second time that Messi has won the honour inaugurated by FIFA in 2016 after football\u2019s world governing body split from Ballon d\u2019Or organisers France Football. The 35-year-old, a seven-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner, succeeds Polish star Robert Lewandowski on the FIFA honours list.
\nHe took the prize just 24 hours after combining with Mbappe to lead PSG to a 3-0 win against Marseille in Ligue 1.
\n\u201cI want to express my thanks to [coach Lionel] Scaloni and my team-mates, without them I would not be here,\u201d Messi added. \u201cThis year was just mad for me, to be able to achieve my dream that I had fought so hard for. In the end I got it and it was the most beautiful thing that has happened in my career. I achieved a dream I had been hoping for so long and finally I achieved it. It\u2019s a dream for any player, very few people can achieve that and I was lucky enough to do so.\u201d
\nHis compatriots Lionel Scaloni and Emiliano Martinez won the coach of the year and keeper of the year awards respectively, and their supporters even got the best fans prize.
\nSpain\u2019s Alexia Putellas, who won the Ballon d\u2019Or last year, was named women\u2019s player of the year despite spending the second half of last year out injured after inspiring Barcelona to a third consecutive national title.
\nThe 29-year-old beat England\u2019s European Championship-winning striker Beth Mead and United States star Alex Morgan to add the FIFA crown to the Ballon d\u2019Or, which she has also won two years running.
\nPutellas is currently recovering from a serious knee injury suffered last July which ruled her out of the Euro in England with Spain.
\nPrior to that she had scored 11 goals on Barcelona\u2019s run to the Champions League final, which they lost to Lyon.
\nPutellas has previously said she hopes to return from injury in time to play again this season, but it remains to be seen whether she will feature for Spain at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July and August.
\nMeanwhile, England\u2019s European Championship victory helped their Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman win the prize for best women\u2019s coach, while Mary Earps was named the women\u2019s goalkeeper of the year.
\nPolish amputee Marcin Oleksy won the Puskas prize for best goal of the year for a spectacular acrobatic volley with Warta Poznan against Stal Rzeszow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lionel Messi was named FIFA player of the year 2022 on Monday as Argentina scooped all major men\u2019s awards after winning a vintage World Cup final last December. The 35-year-old forward scored two goals in the final against France, with the South Americans emerging triumphant on penalties following a 3-3 draw after extra time in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-316798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n