FIFA Best Awards: Breakdown of How Coaches and Captains Voted As Messi Pips Haaland to Top Award

• Lionel Messi was crowned the winner of the Best FIFA Men's Player award
• The Inter Miami superstar tied with Erling Haaland on 48 points in the voting
• However, a tiebreaker saw Messi pip the Man City star to the prestigious award

The FIFA Best Awards 2023 winners have finally been crowned, with Lionel Messi scooping the Men's Player gong ahead of Erling Haaland.

The Inter Miami star topped a closely contested poll to cart home the prize at the expense of Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain ace Kylian Mbappe.

According to The Mirror, Messi and Haaland were locked together on 48 points, with the winner determined by a little-known rule.

As per the rules of allocation, the Argentine was the outright winner as he was separated from his close rival by the number of first-choice nominations he received from national team captains.

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National team captains, who included Mbappe, Harry Kane, and Liverpool ace Mohamed Salah, participated in the voting.

How top captains voted in the Men's Award?

According to the voting outcome shared by FIFA, Mbappe picked Messi as his first choice, Haaland as his second, with Kevin De Bruyne coming in at third.

On his part, Kane selected Messi at the top, with Haaland, and Bernardo Silva finishing second and third, respectively.

Salah, meanwhile, also picked Messi at the top, De Bruyne in second place, with Haaland sitting third in the Egyptian's voting.

In the coaches category, Fernando Diniz (Brazil), Gareth Southgate (England), Didier Deschamps (France), Luciano Spalleti (Italy), and Ronald Koeman of the Netherlands are among the top tacticians who voted.

Of the five head coaches, only Southgate did not have Messi feature in his voting, with the Englishman opting for Haaland, Rodri, and Silva, in that order.

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Full voting breakdown for the Men's Award

The FIFA Men's Player of the Year award is decided by four different voting groups, including coaches, captains, journalists and fans.

Each of the four groups accounts for 25 per cent of the total vote, irrespective of the number of votes from each pool.

In figures shared by FIFA, Messi beat Haaland in the fan and national team captains' vote.

On his part, Haaland received more votes from journalists and coaches, leaving the pair level on overall points.

A tiebreaker was subsequently implemented to determine the winner, with Messi emerging as the victor in the process.

Meanwhile, Mbappe finished third with 35 points.

Fans disappointed as Messi wins Best Men's Player

Sports Brief also reported that football fans took to social media to express their discontent with Messi winning the FIFA Best Men’s Player award for 2023 over Haaland and Mbappe.

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The frustration arose from Messi and Haaland both having 48 scoring points, while Mbappe secured 35.

There was a surprise when Messi was announced as the winner, as it diverged from the expectation that the award should primarily consider accomplishments within the calendar year.