Sports
Overview of the FIFA Awards As Messi, Pep, and Others Received Honors
Football Stars Barometer by Betzillion: Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Others Reviewed
Football is one of the most important sports in the world. Since it has many followers across the globe, betting on the sport is also on the rise. We can help you stay informed about what’s happening in football. Let’s share some information about the event in light of the just-concluded 2023 FIFA Award Night.
Live Updates: Lionel Messi Secures FIFA Best Awards 2023 Prize; Bonmati, Guardiola, and Wiegman Recognized
Lionel Messi won his record 8th Ballon d’Or in 2023, but the Argentina skipper appears not to be stopping yet as he bagged the Men FIFA Best Award. Bagging the award for the third time, he edged Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, who took the second and third positions.
It has caused an uproar in the football nation, as some believe he doesn’t deserve the award.
Messi is not the only one whose award is questioned, as the England National Women’s Coach Sarina Wiegman’s Best Female Manager award also raised some controversy.
We will analyze the January 15th event in London by discussing comments from readers. We will also discuss other top awards at the event, including the newly introduced award in honor of the Brazilian legend Marta.
Puskás Award Voting Results – Santos Emerges as Fans’ Top Choice
The Puskás Award remained one of the honors many looked out for at FIFA Award Night. It honors Ferenc Puskás, who had many stunning goals in his collection. With the top incredible goals scored between December 2022 and August 20, 2023, contesting for this award, the votes from expert Panelists and fans determine the winner.
While Guilherme Madruga won with an overall score of 22 points, the voting shows fans preferred Nuno Santos’s goal with 18 points. Comparing the goals, Madruga scored an overhead kick against Novorizontino for Botafogo-SP, while Santos scored a daring 15-yard Rabona kick for Sporting against Boavista.
A closer look at the voting shows that 11 out of 18 points that Santos got are from the fans, as opposed to Madruga’s 9. But the Panelist votes came through for the Brazilian, with 13 points against Santos’s seven from the Panelists. Even Brighton’s Julio Enciso’s long-range stunner gathered more points (11) from the Panelists.
The total points for the FIFA Puskás award are 50, and Madruga’s 22 points were enough to clinch the award. You can check the table below for the full breakdown of the votes.
| Rank | Names | Panelists Points | Fans Points | Total |
| 1 | Guilherme Madruga | 13 | 9 | 22 |
| 2 | Nuno Santos | 7 | 11 | 18 |
| 3 | Julio Enciso | 11 | 6 | 17 |
Reader Feedback: Questioning Wiegman’s Selection as the Best Coach
Another exciting 2023 FIFA Award Night award that got people talking was the Best Coach award given to England’s Sarina Wiegman. Manchester City’s Boss, Pep Guardiola, won the men’s version of the award, and everyone believes he deserves it with his team’s incredible treble in 2023. But we can’t say the same for Wiegman’s accolade, as some believe other candidates should have won it.
The Dutchwoman won two trophies with the in-form English women’s team and even made it to the finals of the World Cup. Since she couldn’t deliver the World Cup, which the Spanish National team won, some football fans believed she didn’t deserve it. Some football fans blamed the final loss on her poor selection and choice of substitute.
Some suggested Jonatan Giráldez, the in-form Barcelona Femeni team coach, should have won the accolade. The poll says otherwise, with Wiegman (28 points) gapping the second-placed Chelsea Women Boss, Emma Hayes (18 points). Jonatan Giráldez came in third with 14 points. She has won the FIFA Women’s Manager of the Year for the fourth time, previously winning in 2022, 2020, and 2017.
Women national team coaches, captains, football journalists, and fans determined the polls for this award. The voting is on the official FIFA website. You can see the poll results below.
| Rank | Name | Coaches | Captains | Media | Fans | Point scored |
| 1 | Sarina Wiegman | 688 | 791 | 627 | 169,193 | 28 |
| 2 | Emma Hayes | 356 | 359 | 297 | 122,871 | 18 |
| 3 | Jonatan Giráldez | 320 | 284 | 339 | 120,842 | 14 |
Subscriber Niko N Raises Doubts on Men’s Award Winner: Messi’s World Cup Triumph vs. Haaland’s Club Season Brilliance
The FIFA Men’s Best Player Award has always been the event’s highlight, and the 2023 Award wasn’t an exception. The three finalists were Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, and Lionel Messi, with the latter winning it despite not being present at the event.
You would agree that the best football odds are in the World Cup, English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, and other major league matches quite popular on Betzillion. With Messi winning the World Cup and Haaland winning the U.C.L. and EPL, the tied result of the top candidates wasn’t too surprising. They both scored 48 points, while Mbappé scored 35.
The Argentine Captain won it because he had more first-place votes than the others, but some of our readers have contrary opinions. For instance, Niko N believes Haaland’s impact on Manchester City’s treble weighs more than Messi’s World Cup victories. The subscriber also believed Messi didn’t perform well at the club level despite helping P.S.G. win their 11th league title.
Many believed Lionel Messi is still the best, judging from how the poll went, as he received the most first-place votes from national team coaches, captains, journalists, and fans. Since he was absent, his former teammate and co-host, Thierry Henry, received the award on his behalf. Kylian Mbappe and Haaland were on the Men’s World 11 line-up; you can check the full 11 via this tweet.
Tally of Votes for Coach Awards
Looking at the coaches’ category of the awards, the winners gapped their runner-ups by 10 points each. It shows Both Guardiola and Wiegman had impressive campaigns in 2023. Pep Guardiola led Manchester City’s team to the UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, and F.A. Cup titles.
Despite losing in the final of the World Cup, Sarina Wiegman also had an impressive campaign. She won the Arnold Clark Cup and the Women’s Finalissima for the Lioness. Compare the margin of votes for the two categories below:
Men’s Coach:
- Pep Guardiola – 28 points
- Luciano Spalletti – 18 points
- Simone Inzaghi – 11 points
- Xavi – 11 points
- Ange Postecoglou – 4 points
Women’s Coach:
- Sarina Wiegman – 28 points
- Emma Hayes – 18 points
- Jonatan Giraldez – 14 points
- Peter Gerhardsson – 7
- Tony Gustavsson – 5
Thierry Henry Unveils the Marta Award: A New Annual Honor for the Finest Goal in Women’s Global Football
The Women’s Best Player award, won by Spain and Barcelona Femeni’s Aitana Bonmatí, was one of the highlights of the women’s category at the awards. She won 52 points, ahead of Linda Caicedo (40 points) and Jennifer Hermoso (36 points), and the Six-time Winner, Marta, received recognition.
Marta gave an emotional speech, encouraging women around the world. The host, Henry, then announced that FIFA will start giving a new award in her name starting next year. It will be the female version of the Puskás Awards for the best goals scored by female footballers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the most FIFA Men’s Player of the Year?
Lionel Messi has the most FIFA Men’s Player Award after winning it for the 3rd time in January 2024. While retaining the award from 2022, he first won it in 2019. Lionel Messi won the 2023 edition of the FIFA Men’s Best Player. He had 48 points from the poll, tying with Erling Haaland, and the body crowned him because he had more first-place votes.
Who is the FIFA Women’s Best Player for 2023?
Aitana Bonmatí won the 2023 Women’s Best Player Award, inspiring Spain to the triumph of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. She also won titles with Barcelona. Linda Caicedof, Real Madrid, is in second place.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s Super Falcons have failed to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup after suffering a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in their play-off encounter on Thursday night.
The Nigerian team, reeling from a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the CAF Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Sunday, showed no signs of putting their misery to bed as they went two goals down to the Bayana Bayana team. It took a late penalty scored by Christy Uchebe to halve the deficit after the South Africans went down to 10 players.
The Super Falcons needed a victory against their opponents to progress to the next stage of the qualification process and secure one of the two available tickets to the intercontinental play-offs. The defeat ended their hopes of making it to the 2027 tournament, which will be hosted by Brazil.
The result brings an end to Nigeria’s remarkable record of appearing at every edition of the Women’s World Cup since the tournament was first held in 1991.
The play-offs were introduced to determine the final African representatives after four teams were eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Two qualification tickets were available, with Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire battling for the opportunity to advance.
Ghana secured one of the available tickets after defeating Côte d’Ivoire 2-1, while South Africa claimed the other following their victory over the Super Falcons.
The Super Falcons had featured in all previous editions of the tournament, making their absence from the 2027 World Cup a significant moment in the history of Nigerian women’s football.
It also raises fresh questions about the direction of Nigerian national football after the Super Eagles also failed to qualify for the recently concluded FIFA World Cup held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
European football returns with a bang as the new season kicks off. The dust has barely settled on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but European football wastes no time getting back to business. Over the next two weeks, the continent’s prominent competitions will launch in quick succession, giving fans a dense run of fixtures across the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Community Shield, La Liga, the Premier League and Serie A.
Paris Saint-Germain, fresh off back-to-back Champions League triumphs, faces Aston Villa in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday 12 August at 8pm which will be airing on Supersport across DStv & GOtv, with the French side chasing a second successive Super Cup crown against an Aston Villa team that has become an increasingly serious force in European competition.
England’s traditional curtain-raiser follows four days later. The FA Community Shield, staged in Cardiff on Sunday 16 August at 3pm, pits Premier League champions Arsenal against FA Cup holders Manchester City, the latter beginning life under new manager Enzo Maresca, while Arsenal look to reinforce their status as the team to beat.
Spain gets moving over the same weekend, with La Liga’s opening round running from Saturday 15 to Monday 17 August. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have all been given extended rest following Spain’s World Cup win, leaving the door open for the chasing pack to set an early pace before Matchday 2 arrives from 20 to 24 August.
The Premier League then starts the following weekend, running from Friday 21 to Monday 24 August. Champions Arsenal open their title defence at home to promoted Coventry, before a full round of fixtures featuring Manchester United, Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, among others, round out the opening weekend. Serie A joins the calendar on the same weekend, from 22 to 24 August, with holders Inter Milan starting their title defence against Monza and Napoli, Juventus, Milan and Roma all in early action.
With five major competitions launching inside a fortnight, the new European season promises an unrelenting start. All the action will be available live on SuperSport, across DStv and GOtv.
A blockbuster week of sporting action awaits DStv and GOtv subscribers, with the decisive stages of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), UEFA Super Cup, FA Community Shield and Trophée des Champions among the major attractions.
Football takes centre stage as WAFCON reaches its business end in Morocco, with the semi-finals scheduled for Wednesday.
Defending champions Nigeria will not be involved after the Super Falcons were eliminated by Cameroon in the quarter-finals, losing 1-0. Their exit means a new champion will be crowned when the tournament concludes on Sunday.
The first semi-final will see Algeria face Malawi on Wednesday before hosts Morocco take on Cameroon at 21:00 WAT, later in the day. Both matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport. The third-place play-off is scheduled for Saturday, with the final taking place in Rabat on Sunday at 20:00 WAT.
European silverware will also be at stake on Wednesday when Paris Saint-Germain face Aston Villa in the UEFA Super Cup at Stadion Salzburg in Austria. The fixture pits Champions League winners PSG against Europa League winners Aston Villa and will be shown live on SuperSport 20:00 WAT.
The action continues on Sunday with the FA Community Shield, as Arsenal take on Manchester 15:00 WAT. The traditional curtain-raiser for the English season will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
French football will also have early-season silverware at stake when Lens host PSG in the Trophee des Champions on Sunday at Stade Bollaert-Delelis. The match kicks off at 20:00 WAT and will be live on SuperSport.
The new La Liga season gets underway on Saturday, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and the other leading Spanish clubs beginning their campaigns.
Beyond football, cricket fans will have plenty to enjoy as The Hundred reaches its climax on Sunday, with the women’s final followed by the men’s final. Both matches will be available on SuperSport Cricket.
Combat sports will also take the spotlight with UFC 330 from Philadelphia on Saturday, adding another major attraction to SuperSport’s weekend line-up.
