Lionel Messi and his World Cup-winning Argentina scored a double by being named Sportsman and Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
Messi captained Argentina, scored seven times and won the Golden Ball as his country won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in December.
He is the first athlete to win the team and individual awards in the same year.
Sportswoman of the year went to Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
She won the women’s 100m world title at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July, becoming the first person to win five golds in an individual track event at the championships.
“This is a special honour,” said Paris St-Germain forward Messi, 35. “Particularly as the Laureus World Sports Awards are in Paris this year, the city that has welcomed my family since we came here in 2021.
“I want to thank all my team-mates, not only from the national team but also at PSG – I have achieved none of this alone and I am grateful to be able to share everything with them.”
Full awards list
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award: Lionel Messi
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Laureus World Team of the Year award: Argentina men’s football team
Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award: Carlos Alcaraz
Laureus World Comeback of the Year award: Christian Eriksen
Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award: Catherine Debrunner
Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year award: Eileen Gu
Laureus Sport for Good award: TeamUp (A programme for children displaced by war by Barcelona and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski)
Source: BBC
