Messi wins Laureus Award as “Male Athlete of the Year”

the argentinian Lionel Messi won the Laureus Award, chosen as the “Male Athlete of the Year”, the award ceremony took place this Monday (8), in Paris, France. Messi was the captain of the national team Argentina winning the world title in 2022 in Qatar. This is the second time the player has received the Laureus, previously awarded in 2020 in Germany.

In the female category, who won as “Athlete of the Year”, was the Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Prycethe athlete who is two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion in the 100 meters dash.

The list of nominated athletes is selected by sports journalists from various countries, but the winners are chosen through voting by the 71 members of the Laureus Academy.

Argentine Lionel Messi competed for the prize against the American Stephen Curry (basketball), American Swedish Mondo Duplantis (athletics), French Mpappé (soccer), Spanish Rafael Nadal (tennis) and Dutch Max Verstappen (auto racing).

“I want to thank the Laureus Academy — what makes these awards so special to us athletes is the fact that they are voted on by these amazing champions, my heroes, and it puts my sporting achievements in real context. This is a first Since I am the only winner of the Laureus Male Athlete of the Year Award, and after a year where we finally won another award we’ve been chasing for a long time, at the World Cup in Qatar, it’s an honor to be able to hold this Laureus statuette.“, thanked the Argentine captain, Lionel Messi.

_{Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won in the category, Best Female Athlete of the Year. Photo: Julien De Rosa/AFP}

See the list of Laures Award recipients:

Best Male Athlete of the Yearthe Argentine, Lionel Messi – (Football);

Best Female Athlete of the YearJamaican, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce – (Athletics);

Team of the Yearthe Argentina Men’s Soccer Team;

Revelation of the Yearthe Spaniard, Carlos Alcaraz – (Tennis);

Return of the Yearthe Dane, Christian Eriksen – (Football);

Disabled Sportsman of the Yearthe Swiss, Catherine Debrunner – (Athletics);

Sportsman in Actionthe Chinese, Eileen Gu – (Skiing);

Sport for Goodwhich won was the TeamUp Movement (Global) – refugee children relieve stress through physical activity, supported by War Child, Unicef ​​and Save the Children;

The young Brazilian skater Rayssa Leal, was nominated for the second time for the Laureus Award for action athlete, but ended up losing to the Chinese skier Eileen Gu. In 2020, “Fadinha” had also been nominated for the award.

Featured Photo: Messi wins the Laureus award for the second time. Reproduction/Julien de RosaA/AFP