Fifa Best Awards LIVE: Latest updates and results as Lionel Messi and Aitana Bonmati scoop main awards
Lionel Messi and Aitana Bonmati picked up the main awards in London with the Lionesses also picking up several awards
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Your support makes all the difference.Argentine Lionel Messi retained the Fifa men's player of the year trophy on Monday, beating Manchester City's treble-winning Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and France's Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe to the award.
Spain's 2023 World Cup winner Aitana Bonmati was voted the best women's player of the year.
Messi, who also secured the men's award in 2022 after guiding Argentina to World Cup victory, clinched the Ligue 1 title with PSG alongside Mbappe following that success, before moving to Major League Soccer team Inter Miami. The 36-year-old, voted the best player by national teams coaches, captains, journalists and fans, helped Inter Miami win the 2023 Leagues Cup -- a competition between MLS and Mexico's Liga MX sides -- scoring 10 goals. Messi was not present to collect the trophy.
The award period for the men's prize ran from Dec. 19, 2022 to Aug. 20, 2023, and started the day after the World Cup final in Qatar. Haaland, who helped City clinch a treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles by scoring 52 goals in 53 matches across all competitions in the 2022-23 season, finished second in the voting. The 23-year-old had the same points as Messi but lost out by having fewer first-place votes from national team captains.
City's Pep Guardiola won the Best Men's Coach award. The Spaniard, who before winning the treble with City last term had achieved the same feat at Barcelona in 2008-09, dedicated his award to fellow nominees Simone Inzaghi and Luciano Spalletti.
Sarina Wiegman claimed the Best Women's coach prize after leading England to the World Cup final where they lost 1-0 to Spain. Seven of her Lionesses were included in the Women's World XI, including Mary Earps, who also took the Best Women's Goalkeeper Award. (Reporting by Reuters)
Relive all the action from London and the reaction to the awards below:
Fifa best awards
Time to pay our respects to three members of the footballing family who are no longer with us.
Sir Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer and Mario Zagallo.
Fifa best awards
And the winners are Brazil’s senior men’s players, that was a heartwarming moment in the middle of the ceremony, and all seemed to be worthy winners.
Cafu, Ronaldo, Julio Cesar and Cafu are among those in attendance to go onto the stage and receive the award.
Fifa best awards
Now moving on to the Fifa Fair Play Award, the winner has been chosen by former professional footballers.
The nominations are: Brazil’s senior men’s players for their all-black kit against Guinea following the racist abuse aimed against Vinicius Junior, Montevideo city under-16s who scored a goal without realising two players were down with head injuries but then allowed their opponents to equalise, Pol Van Boekel when not showing Mohammed Kudus a yellow card for removing his shirt to display a tribute to his former teammate Christian Atsu.
Fifa best awards
And now on to the men’s goalkeeper award which is between Ederson, Thibaut Courtois and Yassine Bounou.
Fifa best awards
It has been an incredible year for Earps, from the shirt fiasco with Nike to winning Sports Personality of the Year and now this award at the Fifa Best of Football Awards.
Earps goes on a slightly different note with her speech, saying: “Thank you very much. To be honest last year I won the award but I didn’t get team of the year. I want to say thank you to my teammates I feel incredibly privileged to be able to be on a pitch with you and learn from you.
“Thank you to all my coaches at England and United, I’m just blown away. I think I talk about that it’s not been the easiest journey to get here, some would say I took the scenic route and I had to wait a long time for this kind of success but looking back now it makes sense what I went through.
“It made me so much more prepared for the challenges I face and to never take a single day for granted. It’s never to late to be exactly who you are.”
Fifa best awards
Just a reminder that the nominations are Mackenzie Arnold from Australia, Spain’s Catalina Coll, and England’s Mary Earps.
Fifa best awards
The coaches have already been announced, as have the World XI’s and now it’s time for the goalkeepers.
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