Messi beats Haaland in the tiebreaker to choose the best men's player, while Guardiola and Wiegman are named best coaches.
Lionel Messi was crowned the best men's player of 2023, while Aitana Bonmati added to her collection of individual accolades by winning the women's award at the FIFA awards ceremony in London.
Messi retained the award on Monday night by beating Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, Manchester City's treble winner, in a tie-break and Paris Saint-Germain's French striker Kylian Mbappé finished third.
The 36-year-old was a surprise winner ahead of Haaland as the award covered only the period after Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory between December 2022 and August 2023.
During that time, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner had a subdued end to his career at Paris Saint-Germain, despite winning the Ligue 1 title, before joining MLS side Inter Miami in June.
While Messi quickly made his mark in the United States by helping the franchise win its first trophy by winning the Leagues Cup in August, Haaland was the favorite to win after scoring 52 goals in his debut season with City and the English team won a treble. of the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup.
After receiving the same number of points (48) from a scoring system based on the votes of national team captains, coaches, journalists and fans, Messi was crowned the winner thanks to more first-choice nominations.
However, the three men's finalists did not attend the ceremony, leaving Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry, co-host of the event, to collect the award in Messi's absence.
#The best around. 💫 pic.twitter.com/OfGV3XgNfr
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 15, 2024
Bonmati's 'exceptional and unique year'
But World Cup champion Bonmati showed up and cleaned up. The 25-year-old Spanish playmaker added to her Ballon d'Or award last October, following a UEFA award in August and the Golden Boot at the World Cup.
It was after she led Spain to World Cup glory and Barcelona to the Champions League title. She was named player of the tournament in both competitions.
Bonmati beat fellow Spaniard Jenni Hermoso and Colombian star Linda Caicedo.
“A couple of weeks ago, as 2023 came to an end, I felt nostalgic because 2023 was an exceptional and unique year that I will remember for the rest of my life,” Bonmati said.
“I am proud to be part of a powerful generation of women who are changing the rules of the game and the world.”
Pep Guardiola was named best manager after leading City's first Champions League success.
“We are here because we won a lot and the thousands of people involved in our success,” Guardiola said.
“I am very 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.”
Haaland was joined by five of his clubmates (Kyle Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne) in the team of the year.
Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior, Messi and Mbappé made up the 11.
City's Ederson won the men's goalkeeper of the year award, while England and Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps took the women's award.
England boss Sarina Wiegman won the women's coach of the year award after leading the Lionesses to the World Cup final.
Seven of England's women were named in the team of the year: Earps, Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood, Keira Walsh, Alessia Russo, Lauren James and Ella Toone.
Olga Carmona, who scored the winning goal in the World Cup final, was the only other Spaniard included alongside Bonmati, as American star Alex Morgan and Australian Sam Kerr were also selected.
The Brazilian men's team won the fair play award after wearing an all-black jersey for the first time in a show of support for striker Vinicius, who suffered several incidents of racist abuse while playing for Madrid last year.
There was also Brazilian success in the Puskas award for best goal, scored by Botafogo's Guilherme Madruga for his spectacular overhead kick.
