By Busari Kabirat
Lionel Messi has won the FIFA’s 2023 “The Best” award.
His award was won on Monday after outshining Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. His latest award came three months after he became the Ballon d’Or champion for a record-breaking eighth time.
Haaland had been the favourite to win after scoring 52 times in his debut season with Manchester City, while Messi edged the vote after winning Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and the Leagues Cup just months after joining Inter Miami.
Messi had been topping the pile for the Best awards voted by captains and coaches of national teams, despite being largely unexceptional in the last 12 months.
The Argentina captain moved to David Beckham’s Miami team in 2023 scoring 11 goals in 14 appearances and winning the Leagues Cup with the team.
These has made two successive years of being named FIFA’s Best men’s player in 2022, he had once won it in 2019.
