LONDON - Lionel Messi was controversially crowned as FIFA's best men's player for 2023 on Monday, while Aitana Bonmati added to her collection of individual accolades at the awards ceremony in London.
Messi claimed the award for the third time, but the 36-year-old was a surprise victor ahead of Erling Haaland on an otherwise glorious night for Manchester City.
The award only covered the period after Messi had led Argentina to World Cup glory in December 2022 to August 2023.
Haaland was favourite to win after scoring 52 times in his debut season with City as the English side won a treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
After receiving the same number of points from a scoring system based off votes from national team captains, coaches, journalists and fans, Messi was crowned victor thanks to more first-choice nominations.
Messi's former club teammate Kylian Mbappe was third.
Bonmati's selection as the best women's player was never in doubt as she completed a clean sweep of personal awards after helping Spain to win the World Cup and Barcelona to Champions League glory in 2023.
The 25-year-old also won the Ballon d'Or, Golden Ball for player of the World Cup and UEFA's player of the year in recent months.
"A couple of weeks ago when 2023 came to an end I was nostalgic because 2023 was an exceptional and unique year I will remember for the rest of my life," said Bonmati.
"I'm proud of being part of a powerful generation of women who are changing the rules of the game and the world."
Pep Guardiola was named best coach after masterminding City's first ever Champions League success.
"We're here because we won a lot and the thousands of people involved in our success," said Guardiola.
"I'm really happy for the season we had because it was an incredible journey. In the end we did it, but the pleasure of being there was incredible."