The annual FIFA The Best Football Awards ceremony took place yesterday in Qatar. The winners were determined by the head coaches and captains of national teams.
The voting choices of the legendary Argentine Lionel Messi have been revealed.
The FIFA Men's Player of the Year was awarded to French PSG winger Ousmane Dembele – the 38-year-old forward cast his first-place vote for him.
In the Best Coach and Best Goalkeeper categories, Lionel Messi’s choices matched the final results: the Inter Miami forward gave first place to Luis Enrique (PSG) and Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City, formerly PSG), respectively.
Notably, Lionel Messi placed Hansi Flick (Barcelona) and Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) in second and third place in the coaches' ranking. In the goalkeepers' list, the Argentine gave second place to his national team partner Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa) and third place to Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid).
Lionel Messi has won the The Best FIFA Men’s Player award more times than anyone else – three times (2019, 2022, and 2023), becoming the sole record holder and surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski, who have two awards each.
Last year, the award went to Real Madrid's Brazilian winger Vinícius Junior.
