Lionel Messi has been named Fifa’s The Best men’s player of 2019 at a ceremony in Milan, beating Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to the prize.
Messi racked half a century of goals in another prolific season as he claimed his 10th La Liga title with Barcelona.
Van Dijk was exceptional in Liverpool’s defensive unit as they finished second in the Premier League and won the Champions League by beating Tottenham in Madrid, while Ronaldo was Juventus’s top scorer as they won Serie A and also won the Nations League with Portugal.
But neither could match Messi’s exceptional show of talents over the year and the 32-year-old collected his sixth gong.
Van Dijk’s Liverpool teammate Alisson Becker won the men’s best goalkeeper prize while their manager Jurgen Klopp was named best manager and used the stage to announce his commitment to Common Goal, a charity founded by Juan Mata pledging one per cent of salaries to charity.
The women’s best player was named as Megan Rapinoe, the US star who helped to win the World Cup this summer. She beat her US teammate Alex Morgan and England’s Lucy Bronze to the award.
Fifa The Best awards 2019
Men’s player – Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
Women’s player – Megan Rapinoe (Reign FC and United States)
Men’s coach – Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Women’s coach – Jill Ellis (United States)
Men’s goalkeeper – Alisson Becker (Liverpool and Brazil)
Women’s goalkeeper – Sari Van Veenendaal (Atletico Madrid and Holland)
Puskas award – Daniel Zsori (Debrecen/Fehervar)
Fan award – Silvia Grecco (Palmeiras)
Fair play award – Marcelo Bielsa and the Leeds squad
FIFPro men’s world XI – Alisson; Matthijs De Ligt, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Virgil Van Dijk; Frenkie De Jong, Eden Hazard, Luka Modric; Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi
FIFPro women’s world XI – Sari Van Veenendaal; Lucy Bronze, Nilla Fischer, Kelley O’Hara, Wendie Renard; Julie Ertz, Amandine Henry, Rose Lavelle; Marta, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe
