Lionel Messi Wins Ballon d'Or For Record Eight Times

 

Lionel Messi may not be playing in European competitions any longer, he yet remained the voted winner of the 2023 Ballon d'Or which extended his tally record-feat of eight. 

The former Paris Saint-Germain forward, 36, led his country, Argentina to win the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar and recieved the prize for the most valuable player (MVP). It was Argentina's third Fifa World Cup trophy. 

Amongst players that also contested for the prize was Manchester City's Erling Haaland, Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe and Bayern Munich's Harry Kane. The recipient of the award last year was Kareem Benzema, who currently plays for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Arabia Pro League.

Messi, for the first time in his career, signed for a club outside of Europe, Inter Miami which is a club in American Super League. The club is partly owned by former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, David Beckham. 

England-born Real Madrid striker, Jude Bellingham recieved the Kopa Award for the world's best player under aged 21. Jude leads his club for the highest goal scorer so far this season with 13 goals in all competitions.