The voting was handled by Pepe, a longstanding teammate of five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, who captained Portugal 136 times, was anticipated to take part in the voting process, where votes from a select group of national team leaders and coaches determine the winner. Pepe, a longtime teammate of Ronaldo, assumed voting duties in lieu of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner because Ronaldo was benched during the FIFA World Cup 2022.
The former Real Madrid defence put Kylian Mbappe, a PSG teammate of Messi's, first, then Luka Modric and Karim Benzema.
Messi defeated Kylian Mbappé once more to win the FIFA Best Men's Player Award on Monday. Following Argentina's thrilling World Cup victory over Mbappé's France in Qatar last year, Messi defeated Mbappé and Karim Benzema in the best player poll to win the FIFA award for the seventh time in 14 years.
The Golden Ball trophy, given by FIFA to the World Cup's best player, was won by Messi, 35, who also defeated Mbappé, who was vying for his first best player honour from the organisation.
Statement by Messi after winning
After the win, he said, "This is an honour for me. I want to thank my colleagues, including my manager, Scaloni, and we’re here representing them all (the Argentina team), as we would not be here without them.
"It recognises the role they played in what we achieved," he added.
Speaking about the year 2022, Messi said, "It’s been a crazy year for me. I have achieved my dream, after so much fighting, and so much determination to win it.
"Winning the World Cup is the most beautiful thing that has happened in my career. It’s a dream for many, but few can win it," he added.
