Messi has one vote for the Best Player of the Year award, as captain of the Argentina national team. He ranked Haaland at number one, his former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe at number two, and his Argentina teammate Julian Alvarez at number three. According to FIFA, the points for each position are five, three and one.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not participate in the election, even though he was eligible. Pepe, who named the “Portugal captain” ballot, chose Bernardo Silva, Haaland and Victor Osimhen.
Messi was voted number one by 107 national team captains. This group includes Luka Modric and Federico Valverde, two midfielders of Real Madrid Club, Kylian Mbappe, Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski, Andy Robertson, Jan Oblak and Gianluigi Donnarumma. Meanwhile, Haaland was only elected number one by 64 team captains. Norway captain Martin Odegaard chose Haaland, Messi and Mbappe respectively.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni chose Messi, Julian Alvarez and Mbappe. Norway coach Stale Solbakken also favored his students, choosing Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Mbappe. Meanwhile, Portugal coach Roberto Martinez did not choose Ronaldo for all three positions. He placed former Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic in the number one spot, while Bernardo Silva and Messi took the other two spots.
Vietnam coach Philippe Troussier chose Haaland, Rodri and Mbappe. Vietnam captain Que Ngoc Hai also chose Haaland and Rodri in the top two positions, but replaced Mbappe with Kevin De Bruyne in third place.
According to the results announced at the awards ceremony in London on the evening of January 15, Messi and Haaland had the same total score of 48. But the Argentine striker won thanks to the number of votes chosen for the number one position – a position that brings five points – more than from captains of national teams, according to the provisions of Article 12 of the voting law previously issued by FIFA. Mbappe finished third with 35 points.
Specifically, Messi won 13 points from the votes cast by the national team captains, while Haaland received 11 points. The same thing happens in the fans category. On the contrary, the Norwegian striker received more points from national team coaches and the media (both 13 points compared to 11 points).
Messi was not present at the award ceremony, so Thierry Henry received the award on behalf of the Argentine captain. Up to now, the 36-year-old striker has won a total of eight The Best awards in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Messi is the player who has been honored the most times since the award. This was born.
This is a surprising result, because the FIFA The Best 2023 award considers achievements during the period from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023. Achievements at the 2022 World Cup – the tournament ending on December 18, 2022 with the championship belonging to Argentina, are outside the scope of voting.
During the voting time frame, Haaland dominated by winning the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup with Man City. The Norwegian striker also set a record of scoring 36 goals in 35 Premier League matches in the 2022-2023 season, a record of scoring 50 goals in the first 48 Premier League matches (17 matches less than Andy Cole’s old record), winning two titles of Premier League top scorer and Champions League top scorer.
Compared to Haaland, Messi’s achievements are more modest. He won the Ligue 1 championship in the 2022-2023 season with PSG, with contributions of 16 goals and 16 assists. After leaving France, Messi joined Inter Miami and only took a month to help this club win the Leagues Cup – the first title in history. The 36-year-old striker scored 11 goals and contributed five assists in 14 appearances for the MLS team. During the scoring period, Messi also reached the 100-goal mark for Argentina and helped the defending World Cup champion lead the South American qualifiers.
