Lionel Messi wins men's player award, coach Pep Guardiola honored

Inter Miami striker Lionel Messi has beaten Man City striker Erling Haaland to win the men's player of the year award at The Best FIFA Awards 2023.

Overcoming Haaland, Lionel Messi won the FIFA The Best 2023 award. (Source: AS)

At the FIFA The Best 2023 Awards Gala held early this morning (January 16), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami Club and Argentina National Team) and Haaland (Man City Club and Norway National Team) both won 48 converted points.

The two players were tied on points so the extra index had to be considered, Messi won thanks to receiving more votes from national team captains than Haaland. Coming in third on the voting list was Mbappe.

All three players who received FIFA awards were absent from the awards ceremony.

Messi's victory caused a lot of controversy because The Best 2023 considers the achievements of the best player in the period from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023.

Achievements at the 2022 World Cup will not be considered for 2023 because they were used for the 2022 award and Messi won The Best 2022 after leading Argentina to glory in Qatar.

In the 2023 performance period, Messi only won the Ligue 1 title with PSG before moving to Inter Miami, where he won the 2023 Leagues Cup, a tournament between MLS and Mexico's Liga MX teams.

Messi beat Haaland to the award despite the Norwegian winning the treble with Man City by scoring 30 goals in all competitions between the World Cup and August 20, 2023.

Guardiola wins best men's coach award

Man City manager Pep Guardiola has been named best men's coach at The Best FIFA Awards 2023.

Guardiola led Man City to a treble last season, his team winning the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.

"I want to share this trophy and this moment with our owners at Man City," said Guardiola.

"On behalf of the backroom staff, I would like to say a huge thank you to the players for their dedication to this club over the past eight years together."

"Thank you so much for this incredible journey because the players have no idea what it means to me to come to the team and be with them every morning. Win or lose it doesn't matter but being with them is amazing."

There are six players from Man City named in the team of the year including defenders John Stones, Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias, midfielders Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and striker Erling Haaland.