Messi and Putellas voted best players at FIFA awards again
PARIS ( AP) — World Cup champion Lionel Messi edged Kylian Mbappé again, this time to take FIFA’s best men’s player award on Monday.
The best women’s player was Spain’s Alexia Putellas for a second straight year.
After steering Argentina to World Cup glory in an epic final against Mbappé’s France last year in Qatar, Messi won the best player vote against Mbappé and Karim Benzema and secured the FIFA prize for the seventh time in 14 years.
He won the World Cup at his record-equaling fifth attempt.
“It was a crazy year for me,” Messi said. “I could fulfil my ( World Cup) dream after fighting for it for so long. And in the end it happened, and it was the most beautiful thing of my career. It’s the dream of every player, but very few can achieve it, so I’m thankful to God for being able to do it.”
The three players made the final shortlist in voting by a global panel of national team captains and coaches, selected journalists in each of FIFA’s 211 member countries, plus fans online.
The 35-year-old Messi also beat Mbappé — who was seeking his first best player award from FIFA — to the Golden Ball trophy awarded by FIFA for the World Cup’s best player. Mbappé earned the Golden Boot as top scorer.
In the FIFA Awards vote, Messi had 52 points, Mbappé 44, and Benzema 34.
Mbappé, 11 years younger than Messi at 24 and considered Messi’s heir apparent on the world stage, made the three-man shortlist for the first time. He was fourth in voting for the 2018 award, the year he led France to the World Cup title.
Real Madrid star Benzema won the more prestigious Ballon d’Or in October ahead of the World Cup. The France forward missed the tournament because of injury. Messi was not on the long list of Ballon d’Or candidates announced in August.
Robert Lewandowski won the FIFA award the last two years, and Cristiano Ronaldo was left off the 14-player shortlist for the award this year for the first time.