Credit: Twitter
Argentina and PSG star forward, Lionel Messi continued his stellar season as he was crowned the Lauereus Sportsman of the Year 2023 at the awards ceremony held in Paris on Monday while Manchester United and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year award.
The record seven-time Ballon d'Or winner won this award based on his achievements in 2022 which included his World Cup win with Argentina. Messi beat out other popular athletes like Kylian Mbappe, Rafael Nadal, Stephen Curry, Mondo Duplantis, and Max Verstappen. In the process, he also became the first athlete to win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year twice (2020 and 2023).
The seven-time Balon D’or winner thanked his teammates at PSG and Argentina after receiving the award. He said, “I was looking at the names of the incredible legends that won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award before me: Schumacher, Woods, Nadal, Federer, Bolt, Hamilton, Djokovic, it really sunk in what unbelievable company I’m in and what a unique honor this is."
Christian Eriksen suffered a devastating cardiac arrest while playing for Denmark in Euro 2020 and was carried out of the game on a stretcher. Since his comeback, the Danish star enjoyed a successful spell with Brentford and proceeded to move to Manchester United where he has been a key player. He also was a regular occurrence at the World Cup in 2022 for the Denmark National team.
Here is the full list of winners in Paris:
- World Sportsman of the Year Award: Lionel Messi
- World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
- World Team of the Year Award: Argentina Men’s Football Team
- World Comeback of the Year Award: Christian Eriksen
- World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award: Catherine Debrunner
- World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award: Eileen Gu’
- Laureus Sport for Good Award: TeamUp
