Lionel Messi makes history and wins his eighth Ballon d’Or

This Monday, the 30th, one of the most important ceremonies in the history of football took place, the ‘Gold ball‘, award presented by France Football Magazine. After a memorable season, largely due to winning the world Cup by Argentina, Lionel Messi won the trophy for the eighth time and was named the best player in the world in 2023.

Lionel Messi had to overcome four other players who were considered finalists in the dispute. Rodri, De Bruyne It is Haalandtriple crown champions with the Manchester Citywere among the five best placed, as well as MbappéWorld Cup runner-up and star of PSG. However, none of those mentioned were a match to overcome the Argentine star.

Working in InterMiami, Lionel Messi reached another historic milestone in his career. Despite having begun the analysis period for the award at PSG, the Argentine was the first player in history to receive the ‘Golden Ball’, in its modern model, playing outside the major European leagues.

The award was presented by David Beckham, former English player. Furthermore, Didier Drogba gave the complete presentation of the ceremony, alongside Sandy Heribert. With his eighth win, Lionel Messi isolated himself as the biggest winner of the ‘Ballon d’Or’. Previously, the Argentine was tied with Pelé, who was awarded on seven occasions, even if retroactively due to the standards of the event at the time it was active.

In a speech on stage at the ceremony, Lionel Messi gave special thanks to his Argentina teammates, his family and Diego Armando Maradonawho would have turned 63 this Monday, the 30th. Furthermore, the Argentine congratulated the other finalists such as Mbappé and Haaland.

The complete list for the 2023 Ballon d’Or

1. Messi (PSG/Inter Miami and Argentina)
2. Haaland (Manchester City and Norway)
3. Mbappé (PSG and France)
4. De Bruyne (Manchester City and Belgium)
5. Rodri (Manchester City and Spain)
6. Vini Jr (Real Madrid and Brazil)
7. Julián Álvarez (Manchester City and Argentina)
8. Victor Osimhen (Napoli and Nigeria)
9. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City and Portugal)
10. Luka Modric (Real Madrid and Croatia)
11. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt)
12. Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona and Poland)
13. Yassine Bounou (Sevilla/Al-Hilal and Morocco)
14. Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City/Barcelona and Germany)
15. Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa and Argentina)
16. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/Al-Ittihad and France)
17. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli and Georgia)
18. Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/Real Madrid and England)
19. Harry Kane (Tottenham/Bayern Munich and England)
20. Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan and Argentina)
21. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid and France)
22. Kim Min-Jae (Napoli/Bayern Munich and South Korea)
23. André Onana (Inter Milan/Manchester United and Cameroon)
24. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal and England)
25. Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig/Manchester City and Croatia)
26. Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich and Germany)
27. Nico Barella (Inter Milan and Italy)
28. Martin Ödegaard (Arsenal and Norway)
29. Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt/PSG and France)
30. Rúben Dias (Manchester City and Portugal)