Lionel Messi won a further two accolades on Monday, when World Cup winners Argentina claimed the Team of the Year honour at the Laureus World Sports Awards, while the 35-year-old was singled out for the Sportsman prize.
Jamaican printer Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the Sportswoman prize, while Man United's Christian Eriksen won Comeback of the Year following his return to football after collapsing on the pitch when representing Denmark during Euro 2020.
Tennis world number two Carlos Alcaraz was awarded World Breakthrough of the Year at the awards, which are voted for by the sporting greats who make up the members of the Laureus Academy.
PSG star Messi - who recently returned to training after landing in hot water with his club for an unsanctioned trip to Saudi Arabia - was in attendance at the awards with his wife.
He became the first person to win both individual and team honours in the same year.
Argentina captain Messi scored seven times and won the Golden Ball during his country's route to the 2022 World Cup trophy in December.
Messi said: 'This is a special honour, particularly as the Laureus World Sports Awards are in Paris this year, the city that has welcomed my family since we came here in 2021.
'I want to thank all my team-mates, not only from the national team but also at PSG - I have achieved none of this alone and I am grateful to be able to share everything with them.
'I want to thank the Laureus Academy - what makes these Awards so special to us as athletes is the fact that they are voted for by these incredible champions, my heroes, and this puts my sporting achievements in true context.
'This is the first time I have been the sole winner of the Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award and after a year when we finally won another prize we had been chasing for a long time, at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, it's an honour to be able to hold this Laureus Statuette.'
Sprinter Fraser-Pryce won the Sportswoman accolade after becoming the first person to win five golds in an individual track event at the World Athletics Championships after taking glory in the 100m final in July 2022.
At the ceremony, the 36-year-old said: 'I was thrilled to be nominated alongside such inspiring women athletes, and to win this award, voted for by some of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time, is just amazing.
'This is the sixth time I've been nominated in this category, so to finally hold the Laureus statuette in my hands is one of the greatest honours of my career.'
Manchester United's Eriksen was awarded with the Comeback prize after making his way back to top level football after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 match in June 2021.
Alcaraz's rise to the upper echelons of world tennis - in which he won last year's US Open as a 19-year-old - have also been recognised with the Breakthrough trophy.
Swiss athlete Catherine Debrunner was awarded the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability prize after winning her first marathon, the 2022 edition of the famous Berlin event.
American-born Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu was recognised in the award's Action category after claiming two gold medals and a silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The Laureus Sport for Good award was given to TeamUp, a programme for displaced children as a result of war.
It was set up by Robert Lewandowski, with the Barcelona and Poland striker also in attendance at Monday's awards ceremony in Paris, alongside Birgit Van Delft and Ramin Shahzamani, who are representatives from the project.
sizclnpry
1238
Haters celebrate suspension we celebrate laureus[Crylaugh]
Collibsodinaka
845
Did you just see that
Suah-K-FCB
744
Congratulations to the 👑👑 King of Football ⚽⚽ L10
PUTA_PSG
685
G.O.A.T of Football 🇦🇷🐐💙 Messi fans living the best moment of life. Waiting for certain fan base to come and shout RIGGED 🤣🤣🤣
UPAMAGUIRE
671
LEO MESSI HAS JUST BROKEN THE RECORD FOR THE MOST INDIVIDUAL AWARDS, FORMERLY HELD BY LEO MESSI - 78 🐐
Liodbest
576
the king, the best and the goat of football, Lionel Messi M10
itz_me_ojei
530
U20 World Champion 🏆 Olympic Gold Medalist 🥇 Copa America Champion 🏆 Finalissima Champion 🏆 World Champion 🏆 World Cup Golden Ball 2014 🏆 World Cup Golden Ball 2022 🏆 Copa America Golden Ball 2021 🏆 Copa America Golden Ball 🏆 Finalissima Best Player award 🏆 All in One 1⃣ Picture 🖼. The Greatest International Football Player Ever. 👏🙌 Mr: Goat 🐐 Mr: Alien 👽 Mr: Magician 🥰
itz_me_ojei
487
If Ballon d'Or was given based on the most goal contributions, then Lionel Messi would already have won NINE Ballon d'Ors by now. @nhn7
itz_me_ojei
447
🗣 Özil: “Messi or Ronaldo? Tough question but I’ll go with Messi because he won the World Cup.”
ManUnited-Red
438
Then United should start paying… vacua’s y’all win nothing!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Y’all lose to everyone and win nothing each year… such a low classed team… y’all play EFL quality football 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Still see your jealous that you never had a player like Messi… he scored more goals and has more assist than anyone your club ever had… he doesn’t need to buy a title… there’s no one else that can win it from him 🤫🤫🤫🤫 shut up and buy better players instead of buying Weghorst!
Your crying everywhere 😭😭😭
catalystnation
350
don't try to imitate the football boss man 🥶
Football_Messi
307
I must say Ronaldo fans r better than us.. really I mean it.. they gotta gotta work harder to find a point to show Ronaldo better.. but us.. we don't need to do nothing.. Leo does everything for us we just enjoy..
itz_me_ojei
244
Messi and Di María together : 🏆 Finalissima 🥇 Olympic Gold 🌍 FIFA World Cup 👑 Copa América 🇫🇷 French Ligue One of the Greatest Duos ever 🇦🇷
itz_me_ojei
203
They want a player who didn’t even qualify for World Cup to win the Balon D’or over the World Cup Golden Ball and WC 2nd Top Scorer while he also has 60 goal contribution this season. 🤭😆 None deserves Balon D’or more than Lionel Messi he deserves his 8th Balon D’or🤷
Factos
187
So many guys saying this award isnt something great Here's the list of players who have won it- Federer, Nadal, Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt n now Messi. Absolute legends of sports. There is a reason the award is called Sports Oscars.
RogerCule
167
LIONEL ANDRES MESSI: 8️⃣0️⃣5️⃣ GOALS 3️⃣5️⃣6️⃣ ASSISTS 1️⃣1️⃣5️⃣9️⃣ GOALS+ASSISTS IN 1️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ MATCHES!!! MOST GOALS+ASSISTS BY A SINGLE PLAYER IN FOOTBALL HISTORY! A PLAYMAKER WITH 8️⃣0️⃣0️⃣+ GOALS AND A GOAL SCORER WITH 3️⃣5️⃣0️⃣+ ASSISTS, A READY-MADE CHAMPION. LEO MESSI, THE 𓃵
dougiefresh
142
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES KEEP FOLLOWING THE TRUE GOAT💎❤️😭☑️
itz_me_ojei
89
Leo Messi 🐐 The One & Only Player with FIVE 5️⃣ MOTM performance Award in a single tournament. 🏆 The One & Only Player with ELEVENTH 1️⃣1️⃣ MOTM performance Award in Entire History of World Cup. 😎 The 🐐, The 👽, The 🎩
Plantaris
11
he was helped to steal it.
Come on. you have to get over the hurt of December 18th and allow yourself heal at some point..