SUMMARY
- Lionel Messi won the Best FIFA Men's Player for 2023 on January 15.
- Cristiano Ronaldo did not cast his vote for the captain of Portugal.
The Portuguese center-back, Pepe, showed his loyalty to his teammate and captain, Cristiano Ronaldo. The center-back was asked to vote for the FIFA Best award when the Portugal captain, Ronaldo, backed out of voting.
Lionel Messi won the Best FIFA Men’s Player for 2023 on January 15. The Argentine forward won the award by finishing above Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe on the podium. The award is judged based on the voting of specialist journalists, global fans, and national team captains.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not cast his vote as the captain of Portugal. Pepe came forward to fulfill the responsibility, and his selection showed his unyielding loyalty to Cristiano Ronaldo. The center-back completely snubbed Lionel Messi, the eternal rival of Ronaldo, to hurt the Argentine chances to win the award for the third time.
Pepe voted for the Manchester City duo, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland. Napoli’s striker Victor Osimhen was the third choice for the veteran defender. Portugal’s manager, Roberto Martinez, also raised some eyebrows with his selection.
I just noticed that Ronaldo, as the actual captain of Portugal, didn’t want to give a vote, instead Pepe voted and he chose Bernardo Silva. If Ronaldo had voted for Haaland, Messi wouldn’t have received the “The Best” award. Too funny 😂 pic.twitter.com/nH2f5r4LLy
— Jan (@FutbolJan10) January 16, 2024
The Spanish manager voted for Marcelo Brozovic as his first choice. His second choice was Bernardo Silva, who won the treble with Manchester City in 2022/23. In third place, he voted for Lionel Messi, who won the World Cup in 2022.
Brozovic was a strange choice, especially in the first place. The former Inter Milan reached the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup and finished as the UCL finalist in 2022/23 with Inter Milan. However, Brozovic wasn’t the first choice for many in the voting for this edition of FIFA The Best.
Lionel Messi won The Best award for best Men player because of national team captains
Messi and Haaland had a close run for the award as the duo was tied in the polling after the overall voting. As a tiebreaker, Messi was awarded the accolade, as more national team captains voted for Messi as their first choice. With this victory, Messi has now won this accolade more than any other player. He first won the award back in 2019. He won the award again in 2022 and now retained it for the 2023 edition.
Messi is crowned #TheBest! 👑🇦🇷
Click here for more information. ➡️ https://t.co/niVRuFY4lP pic.twitter.com/krIyrtkexL
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 15, 2024
The Inter Miami superstar wasn’t present at the ceremony to receive the award. Lionel Messi decided to stay in Miami to train with his MLS team. The forward is set to take on the El Salvador national team on January 19 as the first pre-season fixture of 2024.
Messi will start his second season with Inter Miami in February. The 2024 MLS campaign will start next month and Inter Miami will face Real Salt Lake on February 21 to start the campaign.