In the early morning of January 16, the FIFA The Best 2023 award ceremony was held in London (England). In the Best Male Player category, Lionel Messi defeated Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to win this prestigious award. 

Notably, with the FIFA The Best 2023 award, Messi has officially surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo to become the player with the most of these titles. Specifically, since this award was renamed “Best Male Player” in 2016, Messi has won 3 times, in 2019, 2022 and 2023.

In 2019, Messi even beat Ronaldo to win this award. That year, CR7 finished 3rd, behind Virgil van Dijk. For his part, the Portuguese striker was honored twice at the FIFA The Best awards ceremony, in 2016 and 2017.

For his part, despite having just reached the top of the world with the award for Most Goal Scorer in 2023, Ronaldo was not even in any nominations at FIFA The Best 2023. However, recently, CR7 had the honor. won an award in another special category.

Specifically, Ronaldo is the owner of the “UEFA Best Goal Scorer 2023” award from IFFHS – International Federation of Football History and Statistics. This title is awarded to the European player with the best scoring record in the past calendar year. Ronaldo scored a total of 54 goals for club and national team in all competitions in 2023, surpassing similar achievements of Mbappe, Kane or Haaland.

This season, CR7 is in explosive form with 24 goals and 11 assists after 25 appearances for Al Nassr. If he can lead the club to the Saudi Pro League or AFC Champions League title at the end of the season, Ronaldo will have the opportunity to be nominated for FIFA The Best 2024 along with many other individual awards.

According to coach Luis Castro, his teammates at Al Nassr always admire Ronaldo and they are ready to devote themselves whenever the Portuguese superstar is by his side: “The captain must be a role model in any dressing room.” in the world. And when the captain is the best player in the world, his presence and leadership become even stronger. Ronaldo is a very balanced person. He balances himself. himself and his teammates, being an example of rigor, discipline and ambition, in short, everything a footballer should be.

Ronaldo is the role model for all of that. You don’t notice any difference. He is one of them. We have a big family. Everyone respects each other. When we’re happy, everyone smiles, and when we’re sad, everyone smiles. Everyone has the same unique feeling at every moment of the season.”