The star, Lionel Messi, thanked his colleagues in the Argentine national football team for the year, which was like a “dream”, after he was crowned the best player in the world for the year 2022 in the FIFA referendum for the second time.
The French star of Paris Saint-Germain outperformed his teammate Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema, the Real Madrid striker, to win the award at the ceremony that was held yesterday, Monday, in Paris.
Messi played a starring role in crowning the Argentine national team in the 2022 World Cup, where he won the Golden Ball award in the tournament after scoring 7 goals and making 3.
He also had a good season at the club level in the first half of the 2022-2023 season, which was taken into account during the vote, after he scored 11 goals and provided 14 assists in 18 matches.
After receiving the award for best player, which he won previously in 2019, Messi said, "It is amazing. It was a wonderful year and it is an honor for me to win this award."
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"Without my team mates, I wouldn't be here. I've fulfilled the dream (to win the World Cup) that I've dreamed of for a long time. Few people can do that, and I was lucky to do it."
"(It was) the most amazing thing that happened to me in my career," he said.
Messi became the third player to win the award twice, after Cristiano Ronaldo and Poland's Robert Lewandowski.
Luka Modric has also won the award - which began to be awarded in 2016 - once.