2023-10-30 21:39:44
Erling Haaland came in second, and Kylian Mbappe came in third.
PARIS, October 31. /TASS/. The Argentine striker of the American club Inter Miami, Lionel Messi, won the Golden Ball – the prize for the best football player in the world for the 2022/23 season according to the French magazine France Football. The award ceremony took place at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.
The second according to the voting results was the Norwegian striker of the English Manchester City Erling Haaland, the third was the striker of the French Paris Saint-Germain Kylian Mbappe.
Messi holds the record for winning the award, with eight awards to his name. Previously, the Argentine won the Ballon d’Or in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021. For the first time in history, the prize was received by a football player who was not playing for a European club at the time the award was presented. Messi spent last season at Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he became the French champion for the second time and won the country’s Super Cup. In the 2022/23 season, the player scored 21 goals and provided 20 assists in 41 matches. From 2003 to 2021, Messi played for the Spanish Barcelona, with which he became the champion of Spain 10 times, won the Spanish Super Cup 8 times, the Spanish Cup 7 times, won the Champions League 4 times, won the UEFA Super Cup 3 times and the Club World Cup .
In December 2022, Messi became the world champion as part of the Argentina national team. At the tournament in Qatar, the player played seven matches, in which he scored seven goals and gave three assists. Previously, as part of the national team, Messi became the winner of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the winner of the 2021 America’s Cup.
The Ballon d’Or was founded by former France Football editor-in-chief Gabriel Hanot. The award was first presented in 1956 to English Blackpool forward Stanley Matthews; the winner of the prize was determined by football journalists. Initially, only European footballers might claim the Ballon d’Or. Since 1995, the Ballon d’Or has been awarded to players of any nationality, the only condition being that the player must play for a European club. Since 2007, any player can become the winner of the trophy.
From 2010 to 2015, the prize was awarded by France Football magazine in collaboration with the International Football Federation (FIFA). Since 2016, two awards have been presented – according to the publication and according to FIFA; the award for the best player of the year according to FIFA was also awarded from 1991 to 2009. Last year’s winner was French striker Karim Benzema.
About the Golden Ball records and other nominations
Messi’s closest pursuer, Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, has five Ballon d’Ors (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017). Eight more footballers have won the Ballon d’Or more than once – Frenchman Michel Platini (1983, 1984, 1985), Dutchmen Johan Cruyff (1971, 1973, 1974) and Marco van Basten (1988, 1989, 1992), Germans Franz Beckenbauer (1972) , 1976) and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1980, 1981), Brazilian Ronaldo (1997, 2002), Spaniard Alfredo di Stefano (1957, 1959), who also played for the national teams of Argentina and Colombia, and Englishman Kevin Keegan (1978, 1979).
In addition, the prize was won by three football players representing the USSR – Lev Yashin (1963), who remains the only goalkeeper to win the Golden Ball, Oleg Blokhin (1975) and Igor Belanov (1986). In Russian history, the highest result was achieved by Andrei Arshavin, who took sixth place in the voting in 2008.
Two people were awarded the honorary Ballon d’Or. In 1996, France Football awarded the trophy for special services to Argentine Diego Maradona. In 2014, the Brazilian Pele received an honorary award from the then FIFA President Joseph Blatter.
Participants in the ceremony also paid tribute to the memory of the three-time world champion Brazilian Pele, the 1966 world champion as part of the England team, 1966 Ballon d’Or winner Bobby Charlton and the 1964 European champion as part of the Spanish national team, winner of the 1960 Ballon d’Or Luis Suarez. Pele died on December 29, 2022 at the age of 82, Charlton on October 21, 2023 at the age of 86, and Suarez on July 9, 2023 at the age of 88.
The best football player at the end of last season was Aitana Bonmati from Barcelona, who together with the team became the champion and winner of the Spanish Cup, the winner of the Women’s Champions League, and won the 2023 World Cup as part of the Spanish national team. The Lev Yashin Prize, awarded to the best goalkeeper of the season, was received by Emiliano Martinez from the English Aston Villa, who became the world champion in December 2022 with the Argentina national team. The award for the best striker of the season went to the Norwegian striker of Manchester City Erling Haaland, the award for social activities went to the Brazilian striker of Real Madrid Junior Vinicius. The best men’s team of the season was Manchester City, the women’s team was Barcelona.
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