Leo Messi beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil Van Dyk to win Men's Player of the Year at FIFA's The Best Awards.
It is Messi's sixth time winning the world player of the year award, more times than any other footballer in the world. He last won the prize in 2015.
Barcelona's talisman enjoyed another prolific goal-scoring season, notching 51 goals in all competitions. Messi has scored 40 plus goals for the past ten seasons.
“I would like to thank everyone who have voted for me to win The Best,” Messi said in his acceptance speech.
He added: “I'm very happy to receive this award. Like I always say, though, individual awards are secondary to me because it’s the team that counts.”
Lionel Messi is the only footballer in history that has won the Golden Boot, Pichichi and FIFA “The Best” award all in the same year.
Below is the list of all The Best 2019 winners:
- Men's Player: Lionel Messi
- Women's Player: Megan Rapinoe
- Men's Goalkeeper: Alisson
- Women's Goalkeeper: Sari van Veendaal
- Men's Coach: Jürgen Klopp
- Women's Coach: Jill Ellis
- Puskas: Dániel Zsóri
