Izuchukwu OkosiArgentina forward Lionel Messi on Monday night was named the Men’s Player of the Year at the 2022 Best Fifa Awards.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner won the prize ahead of French forwards Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe.
Messi, 35, scored 27 goals in 49 games for club and country in 2021–2022, helping Argentina win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Before the start of the awards to the deserving winners, about 15 minutes of the ceremony was dedicated to the memory of late Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) who died in November 2022.
Alexia Putellas of Barcelona was named Women’s Player of the Year.
Lionel Scaloni, who guided Argentina to their third World Cup victory, was voted Men’s Coach of the Year at the ceremony in Paris, France.
Scaloni won the award ahead of Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid and Pep Guardiola of Manchester City, who had won the UEFA Champions League and just led his team to a sixth Premier League title, respectively.
READ ALSO: Messi Wins Seventh Ballon d’Or Award, Lewandowski, Jorginho Lose Out
Sarina Wiegman, the manager of England, was chosen Women’s Coach of the Year after leading the Lionesses to their first major victory at home in the European Championship last year.
Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa and Argentina was named the Best Goalkeeper for Men.
The 30-year-old assisted in his nation’s victory over France in the World Cup final and stopped four penalties along the road.
For his incredible goal against Stal Rzeszow, in which he used his crutches to send a powerful overhead volley into the goal, amputee player Marcin Oleksy of Polish team Warta Poznan won the Fifa Puskas award for the best goal in world football in the year under review.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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