This archive report was first published on 24 September 2019.
On Monday, September 23, 2019, the FIFA Men's and Women's Player of the Year awards were presented in Milan. Lionel Messi, a 32-year-old striker for Barcelona, took home the men's award, while Megan Rapinoe, a 34-year-old forward for the United States, won the women's prize.
Messi edged out Virgil Van Dijk, a 28-year-old defender for Liverpool, who had won the UEFA player's award last month. Cristiano Ronaldo, a forward for Juventus, was also shortlisted for the award but did not attend the ceremony.
Both Messi and Van Dijk are now in the running for the coveted Ballon d'Or, which will be announced on December 2. Rapinoe's win was a historic moment for the United States, as she became the face of the World Cup with her outspoken views on US President Donald Trump.
Van Dijk had been bidding to become the second defender to be recognized by FIFA as the world's best player, after Italian Fabio Cannavaro in 2006. However, he missed out on completing a treble for Liverpool, with manager Jurgen Klopp winning the men's coach of the year award and Alisson Becker taking home the goalkeeper prize.
"It is great, nobody expected this 20, 10, five, four years ago that I would be standing here," said Klopp, who joined Liverpool in 2015. "I have to say thank you to my outstanding club Liverpool FC. Those who don't love it don't have a heart. As a coach you can only be as good as your team. I'm really proud of being coach of such an incredible bunch of players."
"The World Cup really was a showcase, the world fell even more in love with the game," said 53-year-old US coach Jill Ellis, who will step down from the team in October. Ellis beat Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman and England's Phil Neville for the women's coaching award. The Fifa Puskas Award for the best goal was given to Romanian-born Hungarian forward Daniel Zsori, who scored a spectacular overhead kick on his debut for Debrecen against Ferencvaros in stoppage time.
