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FIFA’s 2023 Best Awards will take place on Monday in London with the prizes for the best men’s and women’s players from the past year decided and handed out. FIFA’s Best Awards are the global governing body of soccer’s answer to the traditional Ballon d’Or prize which was already won by Lionel Messi after leading Argentina to the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
However, unfortunately for defending champion Messi who has played for Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami and the Albiceleste in the past 12 months, the period for eligibility this edition was from Dec. 19 of 2022 until Aug. 20 of 2023. Basically, Messi’s World Cup win does not count towards this prize — as it already won him the 2022 edition — which makes him an outsider for the main men’s prize.
The 36-year-old greatest of all time player is behind Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who has since won the UEFA Champions League, and former PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe — arguably the world’s top player right now and the subject of major speculation as he is into the final six months of his contract in Paris.
Barcelona and Spain star Alexia Putellas won best women’s player award and the eligibility dates are slightly different with Aug. 1 of 2022 to Aug. 20 of 2023 which is unlikely to change much given Aitana Bonmati’s probably domination of the award as was also the case in the Ballon d’Or.
How to watch
Date: Monday, Jan. 15 Time: 1:30 p.m. ETLocation: Eventim Apollo — London, EnglandWatch: FS2Live stream: FIFA+ (register for free)
As mentioned, Messi is one of the finalists competing for the men’s award with Haaland and Mbappe the two others while Bonmati is the favorite ahead of Jenni Hermoso and Linda Caicedo. There are other prizes up for grabs, though, such as the best men’s and women’s goalkeepers, best men’s and women’s head coach, the Puskas Award for the best goal as well as the FIFA Fair Play and FIFA Fan titles.
Here are the candidates for the main men’s and women’s award categories …
Best Men’s Player
Manchester City and Norway’s Erling Haaland.PSG and France’s Kylian Mbappe.PSG, Inter Miami and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
Best Women’s Player
Barcelona and Spain’s Aitana Bonmati.Deportivo Cali, Real Madrid and Colombia’s Linda Caicedo.Pachuca and Spain’s Jenni Hermoso.
Best Men’s Coach
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola.Inter’s Simone Inzaghi.Napoli and Italy’s Luciano Spalletti.
Best Women’s Coach
Barcelona’s Jonatan Giraldez.Chelsea’s Emma Hayes.England’s Sarina Wiegman.
Best Men’s Goalkeeper
Sevilla, Al Hilal and Morocco’s Yassine Bounou.Real Madrid and Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois.Manchester City and Brazil’s Ederson.
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
West Ham and Australia’s Mackenzie Arnold.Barcelona and Spain’s Cata Coll.Manchester United and England’s Mary Earps.
Puskas Award
Brighton and Hove Albion’s Julio Enciso vs. Manchester City.Botafogo SP’s Guilherme Madruga vs. Novorizontino