PARIS — Argentina’s World Cup winning captain Lionel Messi was named the Laureus Sportsman of the Year, while sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce bagged the top women’s honour at the awards ceremony.
Messi also received an award on behalf of the Argentina men’s football team, who were named World Team of the Year after their triumph at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The 35-year-old Paris St Germain forward has previously won the award once before, sharing it with Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton in 2020.
Messi also became the first athlete to scoop both the World Sportsman of the Year Award and the World Team of the Year Award in the same year.
“I was looking at the names of the incredible legends that won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award before me: Schumacher, Woods, Nadal, Federer, Bolt, Hamilton, Djokovic… it really sunk in what unbelievable company I´m in and what a unique honour this is,” Messi said according to Reuters.
“It is always nice to receive this kind of recognition, but well, with team sports, this year I was lucky to fulfil my greatest dream to be world champion with my national team. It took a long time, practically almost all my career, but I got it in the end. It cost me a lot, I went through everything, a lot of happiness with Barcelona and a lot of sadness with the national team, but I never stopped,” Messi added.
Messi, 35, is currently at the centre of speculation linking him with a move to Saudi Arabia. But for now, he remains at Paris Saint-Germain – where the prestigious Laureus ceremony was taking place.
Jamaican Fraser-Pryce enjoyed an outstanding 2022, which included winning the 100m gold at the World Athletics Championships.
“I’m really honoured to be here to receive this award, and I pray that it’ll be an inspiration to all Jamaican young girls, mainly the girls from my Pocket Rocket foundation to know that there’s no limits when you believe what you believe and continue to work hard, continue to inspire the next generation of women to understand that we are strong, we are powerful, and most importantly, we are fearless. So, thank you, very much,” Fraser-Pryce said.
Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, who won the 2022 US Open and rose to number one in the ATP rankings, was named the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year.
Christian Eriksen, who recovered from the cardiac arrest he suffered at the European Championship in 2021 to return to Premier League football with Brentford and then Manchester United before competing at the World Cup with Denmark, received the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
The Laureus World Sports Awards nominees are selected by the global media, while the winners are determined by the 71 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy. The awards have been presented annually since their inception in 2000.
List of winners: World Sportsman of the Year Award: Lionel Messi, World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, World Team of the Year Award: Argentina Men´s Football Team, World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Carlos Alcaraz, World Comeback of the Year Award: Christian Eriksen, World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award: Catherine Debrunner.
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