Lionel Messi, Lionel Scaloni and Emiliano Martinez made it a clean sweep for Argentina in Monday’s glitzy ceremony for the Best FIFA Awards in Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Messi was crowned the Best FIFA Men’s Player, Scaloni took the Best FIFA Men’s Coach and Martinez the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper.
The award period spans between the start of the 2021-22 season through to the end of the 2022 World Cup, which saw Argentina end their 36-year wait to win the competition.
Martinez, who plies his club trade for Aston Villa, finished ahead of Thibaut Courtois and Yassine Bounou of Real Madrid and Sevilla respectively in the voting – although Courtois made the cut for the FIFPro Men’s World 11.
Scaloni was next to pick up an award after seeing off competition from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti, who won a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.
La Albiceleste have lost just one of their 23 games since the start of last season, with their solitary loss coming in their opening Qatar 2022 group game against Saudi Arabia.
Messi made it three from three for Argentina by claiming the top prize at the ceremony in the French capital, which started with a poignant tribute to Brazil great Pele.
Madrid striker Karim Benzema and Messi’s PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe had also been in the running for the award.
Argentina’s fans also claimed the FIFA Fan Award.
Their domination on the men’s side was not quite matched by European champions England in the women’s prizes.
Mary Earps was named the Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper and Sarina Wiegman took the Best FIFA Women’s Coach award for a third time.
But Beth Mead was pipped to the Best FIFA Women’s Player accolade by Alexia Putellas, last year’s winner.
Other winners included Luka Lochoshvili, then of Austrian side Wolfsberger, in the FIFA Fair Play category for potentially saving the life of opponent Georg Teigl during a game after the Austria Vienna player fell unconscious mid-match.
Polish amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy won the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal for his perfectly executed bicycle kick for Warta Poznan against Stal Rzeszow.
Full list of winners:
The Best FIFA Men’s Player: Lionel Messi
The Best FIFA Women’s Player: Alexia Putellas
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper: Mary Earps
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: Lionel Scaloni
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman
FIFA Puskas award: Marcin Oleksy
FIFA Fan award: Argentina fans
FIFA Fair Play award: Luka Lochoshvili
Source: keepup.com.au
