• FIFA Awards: Lionel Messi and Alexia Putellas wins 'Best Player' awards

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    FIFA Awards: Lionel Messi and Alexia Putellas wins 'Best Player' awards

    FIFA Football Awards 2022:The 35-year-old, a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, succeeds Robert Lewandowski on the FIFA honour list...


    Digital Desk: Lionel Messi was named FIFA's Best Men's Player for 2022, while Barcelona star Alexia Putellas was named FIFA's Best Women's Player for 2022 at a ceremony in Paris on Monday.




    Messi won Best FIFA Men's Player for the second time after winning it in 2019, while Barcelona and Spain player Alexia Putellas won the title for the second year in a row.


    Messi beat fellow finalists Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe. While Putellas beat out Alex Morgan and Beth Mead for the award.


    Messi was expected to win the honour after leading Argentina to a World Cup victory in Qatar last year, where he was named the tournament's "Best Player." The 35-year-old, a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, succeeds Robert Lewandowski on the FIFA honour list.


    This honour recognises a year in which the former Barcelona star crowned his spectacular career by scoring twice in an amazing final in Doha in which Argentina defeated France on penalties despite Mbappe netting a hat-trick for Les Bleus in a thrilling 3-3 draw.


    Although the 29-year-old led Barcelona to a domestic treble in 2021–2022, before tearing her ACL on the eve of Spain's Euro 2022 campaign. After suffering a significant knee injury in the second part of 2022, she defeated England's European Championship-winning attacker Beth Mead and US star Alex Morgan to win the Fifa Ballon d'Or. Previous to her injury, she had scored 11 goals in Barcelona's journey to the Champions League final, which they lost to Lyon.


    FIFA created this award in 2016 following the separation of football's governing body from Ballon d'Or organisers France Football.


    National team coaches and captains, journalists, and fans vote for this award.