Coach Boateng ranked World Cup golden boot winner Kylian Mbappe as his top choice, while Messi came in second, and Brazilian forward Neymar was his third pick for the just ended FIFA Best Award ceremony.
However, despite Boateng’s votes, Messi won the award due to his impressive performance in leading Argentina to their third World Cup victory in 2022, as well as being named the tournament’s best player.
Mbappe was ranked second and Benzema third. Neymar, who was Boateng’s third choice, received only 13 points, placing him ninth in the overall ranking.
Meanwhile, according to FIFA, they did not receive votes from Ghana captain Andre Ayew or his deputy Thomas Partey.
As the assistant coach of the Black Stars, Boateng, along with Chris Houghton, will concentrate on assembling a strong squad for the upcoming 2023 AFCON qualifiers against Angola, scheduled for next month.
Messi Wins for the Second Time
Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi has been crowned The Best FIFA Men’s Player for the second time. Messi, 35, has followed up his victory in 2019 by scooping the award again after inspiring Argentina to their third World Cup win with seven goals at the tournament.
Messi saw off competition from PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema to win the award.
“It’s amazing. It’s an honour for me to be here tonight and win this award. Without my team-mates, I wouldn’t be here. It was an amazing year and I achieved the dream that I’ve been hoping for so long and finally, I managed to achieve it. It [the World Cup] is the most wonderful thing that’s happened to me in my career,” said Messi
Messi provided two assists in the Ligue 1 win over Marseille for team-mate Kylian Mbappe, who was also one of the final three nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
Mbappe was the top scorer at the 2022 World Cup with eight goals, including a hat-trick in the final as France lost to Argentina on penalties. He finished 2022 with 56 goals in 56 games for club and country.
Messi and Mbappe sat together at the ceremony in Paris, with Messi watching as Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni won The Best FIFA Men’s Coach Award.
However, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema did not attend the ceremony. Benzema missed out on the World Cup with France due to injury but was a key player for Real Madrid as they won the Champions League for a 14th time. He is the fourth-highest scorer in Champions League history with 88 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Robert Lewandowski.
Bayern Munich’s Lewandowski had won The Best FIFA Men’s Player award for the last two years but did not make it to the final three this time.
The men’s world best team included Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois, Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Portugal’s João Cancelo, Dutchman Virgil van Dijk, Belgium’s Kevin de Bruyne, Croatia’s Luka Modrić, Brazil’s Casemiro, Norway’s Erling Haaland and France’s Mbappé and Benzema.
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