Ballon d'Or 2023: Lionel Messi wins award for the eighth time; Vini Jr is 6th

Oct 30, 2023

3 min read

World Cup champion with Argentina, the 36-year-old star is voted best player in the world in a vote by France Football magazine, surpassing awards from players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Cruijff, Platini and Van Basten.

Lionel Messi and Aitana Bonmatí with their Ballon d'Or awards (Best in the world in football) - Photo Reproduction / Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

Argentine player Lionel Messi, 36, widely recognized as one of the greatest players of all time, shone once again when he won the 2023 Ballon d'Or, the prestigious award for Best Player in the World, at a ceremony held in Paris this Monday (30).

His victory reaffirms his absolute dominance in the world of sport. Messi overcame strong competitors, including Haaland, Mbappe and De Bruyne, who completed the top four positions in the election promoted by France Football magazine. The trophy was presented to Messi by none other than David Beckham, owner of Inter Miami, the club where Messi currently shines. The only Brazilian competitor, Vini Jr, was in sixth place.

First of all, I would like to thank all those who voted, who made me the winner of this award, and of course, all my teammates, national team players. This depended on the Argentina team, the work of an entire team. Lautaro, Julián, Dibu. A gift for our entire Argentine group. What we achieved is historic – said Messi.

Awards

The Ballon d'Or is an award that celebrates the performance of the best football player of the year and is awarded through voting, involving the participation of 100 journalists from different countries around the world.

The 2023 Ballon d'Or edition marked the 67th annual ceremony of this prestigious award, organized by France Football magazine, which created a list of 30 finalists and sent it to each voter to create their top 5. The scores were given according to the position. During the ceremony, the most outstanding football players of the 2022-2023 season at a global level were honored and recognized.

Winning the eighth Ballon d'Or

Messi, absent from the list of nominees in the previous edition, became the first player from a non-European team to reach the top. In addition to contributing to Argentina's World Cup glory, Messi also played an essential role in Inter Miami's victory, winning the team's first trophy - the Leagues Cup - and scoring 11 goals in 14 Major League Soccer games. .

In the current season, Messi has accumulated 38 goals and 25 assists in 54 games, which translates into an impressive average of 1.16 appearances per match. He won important titles, including the World Cup with Argentina, where he stood out as the best player, registering seven goals and three assists. Furthermore, Messi triumphed in the French Super Cup and French Championship with PSG, as well as leading in assists in the French Championship, with a total of 16.

Messi's victory also places Argentina at the top of the ranking of victories by country, with a total of eight titles, surpassing countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal, which have seven victories each. The Argentine player now has a total of three more Ballon d'Or awards than any other player, surpassing athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the award five times, most recently in 2017. Next in the ranking, we find players like Cruijff, Platini and Van Basten, who have three awards each.