Lionel Messi won The Best FIFA men’s player prize for 2022 on Monday on the back of his World Cup triumph with Argentina and Spain’s Alexia Putellas retained the women’s award at a ceremony in Paris.

Messi beat his Paris Saint-Germain teammate, and World Cup final rival, Kylian Mbappé to the men’s gong with Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema having been the other contender to claim the prize.

It is the second time that Messi has won the honour inaugurated by FIFA in 2016 after football’s world governing body split from Ballon d’Or organisers France Football.

The award, which is voted for by national team coaches and captains, journalists and also fans, recognises a year in which the former Barcelona star crowned his glorious career by leading Argentina to victory at the World Cup.

Messi scored twice in an epic final in Doha as Argentina beat France on penalties despite Mbappé netting a hat-trick for Les Bleus in a remarkable 3-3 draw.

He also claimed the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament, although Mbappé was the top scorer with eight goals, one more than Messi.

“This year was just mad for me, to be able to achieve my dream that I had fought so hard for. In the end I got it and it was the most beautiful thing that has happened in my career,” Messi said of his World Cup win as he collected his award.

“It is a dream for every footballer but something that very few can make come true,” added Messi, who was sat in the Paris theatre in between Mbappé and his wife Antonella Roccuzzo.

He took the prize just 24 hours after combining with Mbappé to lead PSG to a 3-0 win against Marseille in Ligue 1.

Putellas pips Mead and Morgan

The 35-year-old, a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, succeeds Polish star Robert Lewandowski on the FIFA honours list, while Putellas retained the women’s prize despite spending the second half of last year out injured.

The 29-year-old beat England’s European Championship-winning striker Beth Mead and United States star Alex Morgan to add the FIFA crown to the Ballon d’Or, which she has also won two years running.

Putellas is currently recovering from a serious knee injury suffered last July which ruled her out of the Euro in England with Spain.

Prior to that she had scored 11 goals on Barcelona’s run to the Champions League final, which they lost to Lyon.

Putellas has previously said she hopes to return from injury in time to play again this season, but it remains to be seen whether she will feature for Spain at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July and August.

Argentina’s World Cup win in Qatar was also recognised as Lionel Scaloni claimed the men’s coach’s honour and Emiliano Martinez was named the best male goalkeeper.

Meanwhile, England’s European Championship victory helped their Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman win the prize for best women’s coach, while Mary Earps was named the women’s goalkeeper of the year.

Polish amputee player Marcin Oleksy took the Puskas Award for best goal, named after Hungary great Ferenc Puskas.

Source: AFP

Cameroon’s Gabrielle Onguene says the 2023 Women’s World Cup without her country would be “like McDonald’s without fries”.

The CSKA Moscow forward, 33, came off the bench to score both goals as the Indomitable Lionesses beat Thailand 2-0 in a play-off match on Saturday.

Only Portugal now stand in Cameroon’s way as they target a third consecutive appearance in the finals.

“It’s always a pleasure and a big joy for football players to participate at a World Cup,” she told organisers Fifa after the victory in Hamilton, New Zealand.

“When I went on the pitch, every ball I got I tried to stay as calm as possible.

“Now, we want our third ticket, our third participation, because we believe that a World Cup without Cameroon is like McDonald’s without fries.”

Onguene opened the scoring in the 79th minute at the Waikato Stadium – only five minutes after coming on as a substitute – before doubling the lead three minutes later.

The winners of Wednesday’s match against Portugal will book their place in the finals, to be held in Australia and New Zealand later this year.

But Senegal’s hopes of reaching their first finals ended with a 4-0 defeat to Haiti, who now face Chile in their final play-off game.

Estelle Johnson

Estelle Johnson and Cameroon must overcome the team 36 place above them in the Fifa rankings, Portugal, if they are to reach the finals.

The Indomitable Lionesses return to the Waikato Stadium on Wednesday for the clash with Portugal, who have yet to take part in a World Cup finals.

The Europeans, however, sit 22nd in the Fifa rankings so go into the game as favourites against a Cameroon side ranked 58th in the world.

“Obviously, they are a very strong team,” said Cameroon defender, Estelle Johnson.

“We watched some films on them and we know that they like to attack, and they like to attack quickly.

“So, that is something we definitely have to focus on, and make sure we handle that correctly.

“We are going to give everything on the pitch – do every single thing we can to bring our participation in this World Cup back to Cameroon.”

The West Africans will have to do the job without first choice goalkeeper Ange Bawou who was sent off towards the end of the Thailand game.

“Obviously, not having our first (choice) goalkeeper is tough but we brought three goalkeepers for a reason,” added Johnson.

“We believe that every single person on this team can play and play well in a big match. We have all the confidence in the world that our goalkeepers are going to step up and handle it for us.”

Cameroon are hoping to join South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, and Zambia at the Women’s World Cup, which will feature 32 teams for the first time.

Source: BBC

Footballer Christian Atsu has been found dead under the rubble of his home almost two weeks after the Turkey earthquake, his agent has confirmed.

The Ghana international, 31, had spells with Premier League sides Everton, Chelsea and Newcastle.

Atsu had been missing since the 6 February quake that caused the collapse of his apartment in the city of Hatay.

His club Hatayspor initially reported he was rescued “with injuries” but a day later that position changed.

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce to all well wishers that sadly Christian Atsu’s body was recovered this morning,” his agent Nana Sechere tweeted on Saturday.

“My deepest condolences go to his family and loved ones. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and support.”

Atsu joined the Turkish top-flight side Hatayspor in September 2022 and scored the winning goal in a Super Lig match on 5 February.

The quakes and aftershocks in southern Turkey and northern Syria are known to have killed more than 40,000 people.

Source: BBC

Cristiano Ronaldo scored all of Al Nassr’s goals in a 4-0 rout of Al Wehda in the Saudi league on Thursday as he passed the 500 league goal mark in his club career.

The 38-year-old Portuguese star now has 503 goals scored for five different teams stretched across five leagues.

He hit three for Sporting Lisbon in his fledgling career, 103 for Manchester United over two spells, 311 for Real Madrid and 81 at Juventus.

Ronaldo now has five for Al Nassr who he joined after the World Cup following his bitter divorce from United.

On Thursday, he hit the 500 mark in the 21st minute with a left-footed strike.

He made it 2-0 with his right foot just before the interval before his hat-trick arrived from the penalty spot eight minutes into the second half.

It was his 61st career hat-trick.

He added a fourth just after the hour mark when he was first to a rebound.

Ronaldo had opened his account for his new employers last Friday with a stoppage-time penalty in a 2-2 away draw against Al Fateh.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who holds the all-time records for Champions League and international goals, is banking more than 400 million euros for his surprise move to Saudi, according to sources close to Al Nassr.

The giant sum includes 200 million euros for promoting Saudi Arabia’s expected joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, the sources told AFP.

Ronaldo has become a figurehead for the conservative kingdom’s push to improve its reputation through sports — a process that has drawn accusations of “sportswashing”, or trying to sanitise its human rights record.

Source: AFP

Ghana international winger Christian Atsu has been found alive after being buried under rubble by the earthquake, the vice president of his club Hatayspor told media on Tuesday. He had been reported missing in Turkey’s Hatay province.

“Christian Atsu was pulled out injured. Our sporting director, Taner Savut, is unfortunately still under the rubble,” club vice president Mustafa Ozak told Radyo Gol.

Atsu, 31, played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and Everton, on loan from Chelsea, and joined Hatayspor in September. He was last selected to play for Ghana in 2019, but has not officially retired from international football.

Fresh from their brilliant performances at the World Cup, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are among the nominees for FIFA’s The Best award for last year, world football’s governing body announced on Thursday.

Messi, who has won the prize once before, captained Argentina to victory in Qatar, a career-defining triumph that has boosted his chances of winning an eighth Ballon d’Or but may also make him favourite for this prize.

As well as Mbappe, who netted a hat-trick in the World Cup final, another two Paris Saint-Germain players are nominated in Neymar and Achraf Hakimi.

Karim Benzema, who won last year’s Ballon d’Or for his performances with Real Madrid, is also nominated, as is Robert Lewandowski, winner of the FIFA prize in the last two years.

The list of nominees is completed by Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland; the Real Madrid pair of Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior; Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Jude Bellingham.

Alexia Putellas is nominated for the women’s award despite being out for the last six months due to injury.

The Barcelona and Spain midfielder won the award last year and retained the Ballon d’Or in October.

Arsenal striker Beth Mead, runner-up to Putellas for the Ballon d’Or, is also nominated, as are two other members of the England team that won the European Championship on home soil in Leah Williamson and Keira Walsh.

There are also prizes for the best male and female coach, the best goalkeeper, and the Puskas Award for the best goal of 2022.

A public vote, open until February 3, will decide the three finalists in each category.

The winner is then voted for by a jury made up of national team coaches and captains as well as journalists and fans.

Source: AFP

The five times Ballon d’or winner Cristiano Ronaldo departed the shore of Europe and completed a shock move to Saudi Arabia club side Al-Nassr and was officially presented to the excited club supporters in a fully stadium.

After his unveiling, he quickly made his way into the club dressing room and met with his new teammates.

In the dressing room the iconic number seven Cristiano Ronaldo took time to exchange pleasantries with his teammates before he finally began his training session in his new environment.

One of the popular players in the Al-Nassr dressing room is the Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar whose fame grew at the just concluded 2022 FIFA world cup tournament in Qatar, the two likewise exchanged pleasantries.

The two will hope to strike up a devastating partnership upfront for Al-Nassr and help them win plenty of trophies both in their league and in the continental competitions.

Source: Opera News

A month after his release from prison, Boris Becker will return as a consultant for Eurosport during the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the sports television channel announced on Tuesday.

“I am delighted that Boris Becker is returning to our Eurosport team at the Australian Open,” said Jochen Gundel, one of the managers of the German subsidiary of Warner. Bros Discovery, the chain’s parent company.

“Since 2017, Boris has been an integral part of the tennis broadcasts on Eurosport.”

The German six-time Grand Slam champion was released from prison in England last month after serving eight months of a two-and-a-half year sentence for flouting insolvency rules.

Becker was found guilty of hiding £2.5 million ($3.1 million) of assets and loans to avoid paying debts.

His lawyer explained that Becker, now 55, had “served his sentence” and was “not subject to any criminal restrictions in Germany”.

Becker will appear on Eurosport every day after the night sessions of the Australian Open which begins on January 16.

Source: AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo has been sent an emphatic message by new Al-Nassr teammate Vincent Aboubakar amid the Cameroonian’s ongoing feud with Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.

The Portuguese forward sealed a big-money switch to the Saudi Arabian outfit earlier this week having penned a deal worth in the region of £173m per year until 2025. It sees Ronaldo venture outside of Europe for the first time in his glittering career following his explosive exit from Manchester United.

His first assignment once he arrives in the Middle East will be to break into the Al-Nassr starting XI – an easy task most would think considering the eye-watering wages that he will earn during his spell with the club. New teammate Aboubakar might have something to say about that first though.

The former Porto star has been with the Saudi outfit since a move from Besiktas in the summer of 2021. The 95-time Cameroon international has gone on to make 36 appearances for the club since, scoring 11 goals.

One of those strikes came in his most recent outing as he opened the scoring in the fifth minute against Al-Khaleej. That goal proved to be the winning strike as Al-Nassr rose to top spot in the Saudi Pro League ahead of Al-Shabab.

It also came at a perfect time for Aboubakar who will certainly be hoping to hold onto his starting berth regardless of Ronaldo’s arrival at the club. And the striker has already proved that he has no issues in putting himself up against the world’s best, having previously compared himself to Kop ace Salah.

Speaking shortly before the World Cup, he claimed that he shared the same ability as the Egyptian – his lack of a move to a top five league the only thing preventing him from displaying that more regularly.

Source: The Mirror