for Lionel Messi over Real Madrid colleague Karim Benzema in the Best FIFA Football Awards. Messi won the majority of the votes at the awards ceremony on Monday, taking home the title of best male player of the year.
He defeated Mbappe and Karim Benzema, who received 44 and 34 votes, respectively, with 52 votes.
The captain of Argentina received a prize for leading his team to victory at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, where he was named the tournament’s top performer.
The national team coaches, captains, and chosen journalists cast their ballots to determine the winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards for both the men’s and women’s categories.
Alaba, the Austrian captain, cast one of the captains’ votes and chose Messi over Benzema and Mbappe, respectively.
Several Real Madrid supporters, however, were not amused by the left-decisions, back’s and some of them used his Instagram account to make racial slurs against him.
Alaba responded by stating that while he believes Benzema to be the finest striker in the world, he was forced to cast his vote based on the collective opinion of the Austrian national team.
“Regarding FIFA The Best Award: The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone,” he tweeted.
“Everyone in the team council is able to vote and that’s how it’s decided. Everyone knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances.”
The best female player of the year was revealed to be Alexis Putellas of Barcelona Femini, with Alex Morgan and Beth Mead coming in second and third, respectively.
Over Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, Lionel Scaloni, Argentina’s World Cup-winning coach, took home the top prize for best men’s coach.
