In the early morning of May 9, Beijing time, the Laureus Awards ceremony was held, Messi won the 2023 Best Male Athlete Award, and the Argentina national football team won the 2023 Best Team Award. Messi attended the award ceremony and delivered an acceptance speech.
This is the second time Messi has won the Laureus Male Athlete of the Year award, having become the first footballer to do so in 2020. In world football, only Messi has won the Laureus Best Male Athlete Award twice, and he is the first person to win the Men's Athlete of the Year Award and Team of the Year award in the same year, making two history.
Messi led Argentina to World Cup victory in Qatar in the past year, scoring seven goals, assisting five times and scoring twice in the final. His Argentina national football team also won the 2023 Team of the Year award, and Qatar's World Cup victory marks their third crowning of World Cup champions.
Messi attended the award ceremony and delivered an acceptance speech. Messi remained very humble, saying: "It is my honor to share the Laureus Award with the other winners, but football is a team sport and my biggest dream is to win the World Cup with Argentina. I'm at the end of my career, I've had fun at Barca, I've had setbacks in the national team and now I'm a better version of myself. I achieved my dream, it was the best thing in my life, it belonged to the Argentina team. Later, Messi also posted again on social media, saying that the award belongs to all Argentines.
In addition to Messi and Argentina, the winner in football was Danish star Eriksen, who won the award for best comeback. At Euro 2020, Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest, and after a fight with death, Eriksen returned to the game and joined Premier League giants Manchester United.