Messi beats Haaland, Mbappe to win FIFA player of 2023 award

London: Argentine Lionel Messi retained the FIFA player of the year award on Monday, beating Manchester City's treble-winning Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and France's Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe to the award.

Messi, who also secured the award in 2022 after guiding Argentina to World Cup victory, clinched the Ligue 1 title with PSG alongside Mbappe following that success, before moving to Major League Soccer team Inter Miami.

The 36-year-old, voted the best player by national teams, coaches, captains, journalists and fans, helped Inter Miami win the 2023 Leagues Cup -- a competition between MLS and Mexico's Liga MX sides -- scoring 10 goals.

Messi was not present to collect the trophy.

The award period for the men's prize ran from Dec. 19, 2022 to Aug. 20, 2023, and started the day after the World Cup final in Qatar.