Messi has surpassed Haaland to become the owner of the 2023 Golden Ball title. This is the 8th time El Pulga has won this award. A number that shows the greatness of the Argentine star.
Not unexpectedly, Lionel Messi won the 2023 Golden Ball award from France Football magazine. The ceremony to award this noble award took place at the Chatelet Theater (Paris, France) last night.
Messi wins the 2023 Golden Ball award (Photo: Getty).
What’s special is that the person who named and gave the award to Messi was David Beckham, co-owner of Inter Miami Club. It was Beckham who had the greatest contribution in bringing El Pulga to the US to play, opening a new and exciting chapter in this player’s career.
This is the 8th Golden Ball title in Messi’s career. Previously, superstar number 10 was crowned in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021.
This player extended his great record by becoming the player who won the most Golden Balls in his career, far surpassing second place C.Ronaldo (5 times).
The six leading players in the 2023 Golden Ball voting (Photo: France Football).
In fact, Messi winning the 2023 Golden Ball award was predicted many days before the ceremony. The Argentine superstar has had an extremely successful year of competition. In particular, Messi made a great contribution to helping Argentina win the 2022 World Cup championship in Qatar.
That was the tournament when El Pulga shined brightly, contributing 7 goals (including a double in the final against France) to bring Argentina to the top of the world for the first time since 1986. He won the Bridge award. The best player of the 2022 World Cup after a superb performance.
This is what helps Messi be rated higher than Erling Haaland in the Golden Ball race. The Norwegian striker also experienced a year full of success with Man City with a historic treble. However, according to many experts, Haaland’s titles have been overshadowed by Messi’s World Cup championship.
Anyway, Haaland was consoled when he received the Silver Ball title and the Gerd Muller Trophy (for best striker) at the awards ceremony. Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe won the Bronze Ball.
Erling Haaland won the Silver Ball award and the Best Striker award (Photo: AFP).
Speaking on the podium, Messi said: “It’s a pleasure to stand here again and enjoy this moment. Thank you to everyone. I want to share this title with my teammates for their contributions.” brought great success to the Argentine team.
I want to thank the coaching staff and everyone who made Argentina’s great achievement possible. I couldn’t have imagined what I would have achieved in my career. I’m lucky to be part of the best team in history.
We won two consecutive Copa America and World Cup championships after extremely difficult moments.”
Talking about Messi, Beckham shared: “It’s special and proud to say that Messi is an Inter Miami player and lives in the beautiful city of Miami. He will celebrate this title with his teammates and family. in your own way.
We’ll also celebrate this title the Miami way. I’m sure everyone will have a fun party.”
Aitana Bonmati won the Golden Ball award for female players (Photo: Goal).
Meanwhile, the Golden Ball title for female players belongs to Aitana Bonmati. This 25-year-old midfielder shined brightly to help Barcelona win the Women’s Champions League and lead the Spain team to win the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The title of Best Goalkeeper (Lev Yashin Trophy) belongs to Emiliano Martinez. This player is a sure fulcrum to help the Argentina team win the 2023 World Cup.
The Best Young Player Award (Kopa Trophy) went to Jude Bellingham. The young English player played extremely impressively for Real Madrid this season.
Honors awarded at the 2023 Golden Ball Gala night:
Men’s Golden Ball: Lionel Messi (Argentina/Inter Miami).
Women’s Golden Ball: Aitana Bonmati (Spain/Barcelona).
Best striker: Erling Haaland (Norway/Man City).
Best goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez (Argentina/Aston Villa).
Best young player: Jude Bellingham (England/Real Madrid).
Best men’s football team: Man City
Best women’s soccer team: Barcelona
Socrates Award (honoring players with contributions to society): Vinicius Jr (Brazil/Real Madrid).
