Argentina's Lionel Messi has won FIFA's Footballer of the Year award. He received the award based on his performance for the national team with PSG and Inter Miami clubs. Messi has won this award for the second consecutive year. Spain's Aitana Bonmati became the Women's Football of the Year. She plays club football for Barcelona. Whereas Manchester City's Pep Guardiola received the Best Coach Award.
Along with Messi, Erling Haaland of Norway and Kylian Mbappe of France were also in the race for Footballer of the Year. Mbappe got 35 points in the voting and came third. But Holland got only 48 points, equal to Messi. There was a tie for top position, then a tie-breaker was used. 13 captains of the men's national team voted for Messi while Holland got the votes of only 11 captains. Due to being ahead by 2 points in the tie-breaker, Messi was considered the winner and he won the Footballer of the Year award for the second consecutive year.
FIFA is the largest association of international football federations. Just as there is International Cricket Council (ICC) in cricket, similarly there is FIFA in football. That means Messi has been given the best player award by the biggest association of football.
Spain's Aitana Bonmati became the Women's Footballer of the Year. He got 52 points in the voting. She got 13 points each from the captain, coach, media and fans, due to which she remained at number one. Bonamati also won the 2023 Women's Ballon d'Or. The Ballon d'Or is considered the biggest individual award in the football industry.
In women's category, Linda Caicedo of Colombia stood second with 40 points and Jennifer Hermonso of Spain stood third with 36 points. Aitana won the Ballon d'Or, UEFA Player of the Year, World Cup Golden Ball and Best FIFA Player awards this year. She became the first player to win all four awards in the same year.
Guilherme Madruga of Brazil received the Puskas Award. This award is given to the player who scores the best goal of the year. Mudruga scored the goal through a bicycle kick from outside the penalty box on 27 June 2023. FIFA declared it Goal of the Year.
Midfielder Madruga scored the goal against Novorizontino while playing for Botafogo club in the Serie B league. Paraguay's Julio Ensico and Portugal's Nuno Santos were also in the race for Goal of the Year. Madruga became only the third Brazilian player to win the Puskas Award. Before him, Neymar in 2011 and Vendela Lira in 2015 have also won this award.
Brazil's Ederson won the Men's Goalkeeper of the Year award. He got 23 points. Ederson also plays goalkeeping for Manchester City club. In the goalkeeper category, Belgium's Thibaut Courtois stood second with 20 points. Morocco's Yassin Bono secured third place with 16 points. England's Mary Earps was the best among women's goalkeepers. She plays club football for Manchester United. Mary was 14 points ahead of her second competitor, who got 28 points. While Spain's Catalina Call (14 points) came second and Australia's Mackenzie Arnold (12 points) came third.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won the FIFA Coach of the Year award. He got 28 points and finished first ahead of two Italian coaches. Luciano Spalletti (18 points) was at second place and Simone Inzaghi (11 points) was at third place. Spalletti is the head coach of Italy, while Inzaghi manages Serie A team Inter Milan.
Sarina Wegman of Netherlands won the Women's Coach of the Year award. She is currently the coach of the England Women's team. Wegman received 28 points in the voting. England's Emma Hayes (18 points) stood second and Spain's Jonathan Giraldez (14 points) stood third.
Argentina's Hugo Daniel Toto Inguez received the FIFA Fan Award. Toto had reached the ground with his 2-month-old son to support his team. During the match, Toto was seen feeding his son with a bottle. His support and inspirational story was given the Best Fan Category Award by FIFA. The Brazil men's team received the Fair Play Award.
Brazil's Marta received FIFA's special award. Marta scored 115 goals in 175 matches for Brazil. Her career achievements were considered special by the association and 'Marta Award' will be given in her name from 2025. The player who scores the best goal in women's football will receive this award.
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