Inter Miami striker Lionel Messi surpassed Man City striker Erling Haaland to win the title of male player of the year at The Best FIFA Awards 2023.

In the FIFA The Best 2023 Awards Gala taking place early this morning (January 16), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami Club and Argentina team) and Haaland (Man City Club and Norway team) both won 48 points according to conversion.

The two players had the same score so the secondary index had to be considered. Messi won thanks to having a higher number of votes from the national team captains than Haaland. Ranked 3rd on the voting list is Mbappe. All three players who received FIFA awards were not present at the award ceremony.

Messi won The Best 2023 award (Photo; FIFA).

Messi’s victory caused a lot of controversy because The Best 2023 considers the achievements of the best player between December 19, 2022 and August 20, 2023.

Achievement at World Cup 2022 is not considered for 2023 because it was used to consider  The Best 2022 award and Messi won it this award after accompanying Argentina’s captain to glory in Qatar.

During the 2023 award period, Messi 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 win the award even though the Norwegian won the treble against Man City and he scored 30 goals in all competitions in the period after the World Cup and before August 20, 2023.

Scores converted according to votes for the Top 3 The Best 2023 (Photo: FIFA).

Guardiola received the award for best male coach of the year

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola was honored as the 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.

Guardiola said: “I want to share this trophy and this moment with our owners at Manchester City.

Guardiola won the award for best male coach (Photo: FIFA).

“On behalf of the backroom staff, I would like to say thank you very much to the players of the team, for their dedication to this club for 8 years together”.

“Thank you so much for this incredible journey because the players have no idea how much it means to me to come to the team and live with them every morning. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter, living with them is wonderful.

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

Awards at FIFA The Best 2023

Best female player of the year: Linonel Messi

Best female player of the year: Aitana Bonmati

Fan of the Year Award: Hugo Daniel Iniguez

Puskas Award: Guilherme Madruga

Fair Play Award: Brazil

Best male goalkeeper of the year: Ederson

Female goalkeeper of the year: Mary Earps

Best female coach of the year: Sarina Wiegma

Best male coach of the year: Pep Guardiola