Football

The Best FIFA football awards: All the winners

February 27, 2023 10:28 pm
The Best FIFA football awards: All the winners

The seventh annual FIFA The Best awards ceremony has come to a close in Paris and unsurprisingly it was a night to remember for members of the 2022 Argentina World Cup squad. 

The awards were handed out based on performances between August 2021 and December 2022 for men and between August 2021 and July 2022 for women. With nine individual awards handed out, let’s waste no more time in revealing the winners on the night. 

The Best Fair Play award

Luka Lochoshvilli won this award for his quick thinking after an opponent, Georg Teigl, lost consciousness after a collision with the Georgian. Upon receiving the award, Lochohvilli said:

“I’m really happy I saved George’s life and that he’s alive. I wish you all good health in life which is the most important.”

The Best Fan award

Argentina fans took home this award after their impressive support during the World Cup. Carlos “Tuala Bombo” Pascual took to the stage to accept the award. He has been to every World Cup since 1974 and brought his drum onto the stage. 

The Puskas award 

This award goes to the best goal scored in the previous year. The winner this year was Marcin Oleksy, a Polish amputee footballer. The goal that won him the award was a remarkable scissors kick goal which defies belief. 

The Best Women’s coach 

England manager, Sarina Wiegman won this award and deservedly so after leading the Lionesses to European Championship glory for the first time in the nation’s history. Upon accepting her award she said that “it’s incredible to be here right now celebrating women’s football in the world.”

The Best Men’s coach 

Lionel Scaloni topped over a wonderful 24 hours after signing a contract extension with Argentina by taking home the award for best men’s coach. The Argentina boss guided his team to World Cup glory a couple of months ago and was a worthy winner. He said:

“There’s nothing better than seeing the people of your country happy. We played for them and so did the players – this is for them.”

The Best Women’s goalkeeper

Manchester United and England goalkeeper, Mary Earps, took home this prize after a fantastic season with club and country. She was England’s goalkeeper throughout their Euro 2022 campaign and after picking up her award, she said:

“I don’t know what to say. Thank you to everyone who voted for me – I feel very honoured to be holding this really heavy trophy!”

The Best Men’s goalkeeper

Argentina’s penalty shootout hero, Emiliano Martinez was the rightful winner here despite not playing for one of Europe’s elite clubs. Without him, though, Argentina wouldn’t have won the World Cup. Speaking with his award, he reserved special praise for his parents. He said:

“They ask you who are your idols. Watching my mom clean buildings for 8-9 hours, and my dad working. They are my idols.”

The Best Women’s player

Barcelona player, Alexia Putellas won this award ahead of Beth Mead and Alex Morgan. Putellas won the award last year as well and is now recognised as the best player in women’s football after another dominant year with Barcelona. She said:

“Thanks to all the people who’ve been there every day during my whole life. Thanks to them, I am who I am.”

The Best Men’s player

Lionel Messi was the winner of the showpiece award after finally getting his hands on the World Cup trophy in Qatar. Messi was a man on a mission this winter and was man of the match in arguably the greatest World Cup final of all time. He said:

“This year was crazy for me to fulfil my dream after plenty of battling and insisting. At the end, it came and it’s the greatest thing that happened to me in my career. Few players get to do it and thank God I was able to do it.”

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