The Best 2022 Awards: Messi and Putellas crowned as big winners

This Monday the FIFA awards: The Best gala was held at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, France, where the best soccer players of the year 2022 are awarded in both male and female branches.

The seventh edition of the awards began with a tribute to the late Brazilian soccer player Pelé, who is the only player to have won three World Cups, followed by the presentation of the awards.

The list of award winners

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was crowned the 2022 FIFA Player of the Year after leading his national team to victory during the World Cup. On the women's side, the winner of the Player of the Year award was Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas.

"This year was crazy for me. I was able to achieve my dream after so much fighting, so much searching, so much insisting. It's the most beautiful thing that has happened to me in my career," Messi said.

On her part, Putellas thanked all those people who have goals. "With this, I hope it is seen and reflected that, if you have if you have a dream and you fight for it as hard as you can, you can achieve that dream, and the most important thing is to enjoy yourself along the way." she said.

The Best FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year Award went to: Mary Earps, a British player who plays for Manchester United, and the Argentinean Aston Villa Football Club player, Emiliano Martinez.

Earps stated in her acceptance speech "I just want to say, thank you so much to my loved ones. Anyone who has ever been in a dark place, just know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Keep going. You can achieve anything you set your mind to."

As for Emiliano Martínez, he emotionally commented, "It is a source of pride for my country. People know how passionate Argentines are and to be able to lift the World Cup is something incredible, especially given the economic situation that the country was going through."

The coaches who won FIFA's The Best award were: Sarina Wiegman of the English national team and Lionel Scaloni of the Argentinean national team.

"From (when) I could walk, I loved football, and over the years I’ve seen how the women’s game grew, how it developed, and it is just incredible to be here right now, and to celebrate women’s football in the world" Wiegman said.

Scaloni, in turn, stated that he wanted "To thank everyone for the award, especially because it is awarded by the players and has enormous value. Thank the players, without them we could not win anything, I am proud to be the coach of this wonderful team."

The Puskás prize for the best goal was awarded to Polish amputee Marcin Oleksy for his half-chilean goal in a match against Stal Rzeszow.

"Thanks to amputee football, we, the players, can also show that disability does not exist and this nomination is the best example of that," he said.

The Best Fair Play Award was won by Georgian footballer Luka Lochoshvili, for saving the life on the field of an opposing team's player who had swallowed his own tongue in the game Austria Vienna vs. Wolfsburg.

The FIFA Fan of the Year Award was presented to the Argentine fans, with Carlos Pascual, better known as El Tula, receiving the award on stage. Pascual is one of the South American country's most recognized fans for having played his bass drum at thirteen consecutive World Cups from 1974 to date.

"The satisfaction that Argentina has given me as a soccer fan is priceless. I was in the three World Cups in which we were champions (...) I am just another Argentinean who came to represent the thousands of fans who supported our beloved national team, and the millions of Argentineans who were celebrating the victory in Argentina", said Carlos Pascual after receiving the award.