Virgil van Dijk has been named in the FIFA World Team of the Year. The defender of Liverpool, present at the gala in Paris, was the only Dutch candidate for the team.
“I am proud to be here, among these fantastic players,” said the international, former player of FC Groningen. “It has been an interesting and eventful year for me. Last season we fought for four trophies with Liverpool until the last minute. Unfortunately we didn’t win them all, but still. This election is also a very nice reward.”
The Hoogeveen Vivianne Miedema, also international of the Dutch national team, was not chosen among the women. The Arsenal striker, recovering from a serious injury, was nominated.
Messi
Lionel Messi of Paris Saint-Germain was named Player of the Year at the gala in Paris. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) and Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) were the other two nominees. At the end of last year, Messi became world champion with Argentina in Qatar. France won in the final, which played with Mbappé. The Frenchman was the top scorer of the tournament. With PSG, Messi and Mbappé won the French league title and French Super Cup.
Benzema won the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the Spanish national title in 2022. The French striker of Real Madrid missed the World Cup due to an injury. In October he was named the best footballer of the past season by the magazine France Football. The Argentinian Emiliano Martínez of Aston Villa, who also played a leading role at the World Cup, was named the best goalkeeper. The Coach of the Year was Lionel Scaloni, national coach of Argentina.
Wiegman best female coach
Sarina Wiegman has been voted best female coach by FIFA for the third time in her career. The 53-year-old trainer had a great summer last year, when she became European champion with the English national women’s team.
Wiegman also succeeded in 2017 with the Dutch women’s team, after which she just missed world gold in 2019 with the Orange Lionesses. During her first final tournament with England, she conquered the European title by beating Germany in the final after extra time: 2-1.
Hristo Stoichkov
In the battle for the title of The Best FIFA Women’s Coach, Wiegman defeated Brazilian national coach Pia Sundhage and Olympique Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor. The Dutch trainer received the award from the Bulgarian former star Hristo Stoichkov.
“Since I can walk I love football,” Wiegman said on stage. “And over the years I have seen how women’s football has grown. Here in the room are the heroes that women’s football has produced, little girls now have their role models to look up to. Many people have worked to make all of this possible and I am grateful to them.”
Among the women, Spain’s Alexia Putellas was named Player of the Year. She plays football at Barcelona and was also chosen for the same prize last year. Beth Mead (England) and Alex Morgan (United States) were the other nominees.