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London, January 16
Lionel Messi landed another prestigious award in football — barely. The Argentina star needed a tiebreaker with Erling Haaland to win FIFA’s best men’s player prize on Monday. He has national team captains to thank.
The voting breakdown showed Messi and Haaland with 48 points each after voting by a global panel of national team coaches and captains, selected journalists, plus fans online. The tiebreaker was whoever had more first-place or “5-point” scores from the votes of national team captains. That category was 107 to 64 for the Inter Miami forward.
Neither player showed up at the awards ceremony. Kylian Mbappe, the third finalist, skipped it too.
Messi had moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Inter Miami and led the David Beckham-owned team to a little-known Leagues Cup title — all while single-handedly elevating football’s relevance in the United States.
The 36-year-old Argentina star also topped Haaland and Mbappe for his eighth Ballon d’Or award last October.
World Cup champion Aitana Bonmati showed up — and cleaned up. The 25-year-old Spain playmaker was named FIFA’s best women’s football player, building on her Ballon d’Or award last October, which followed a UEFA award in August. And that was after she led Spain to World Cup glory and Barcelona to the Champions League title. She was named Player of the Tournament for both competitions. — AP
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