Apart from leading his country Argentina to their third FIFA World Cup title against France yesterday, Captain of the Albiceleste, Lionel Messi, also emerged the first man in history to win the adidas Golden Ball twice .
Messi scored seven goals and three assists, to set multiple records and help his country win the trophy for the first time in 32 years is the best player of the tournament here at Qatar 2022.
Kylian Mbappe and Luka Modric received the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
Messi won the Golden Ball at Brazil 2014, where he helped Argentina finish runners-up to Germany.
Mbappe who scored eight goals won the adidas Golden Boot at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The France forward scored eight times, one more than Lionel Messi, who collected the Silver Boot. Olivier Giroud‘s four goals seized him the Bronze Boot.
Mbappe scored three goals in the group stage and five in the knockout phase, including a hat trick in the final, which France ultimately lost on penalties.
He became only the second player to score more than six goals since 1974. Ronaldo, to whom Mbappe has been consistently juxtaposed, netted eight for Brazil in 2002.
The 24-year-old also moved on to 12 World Cup goals overall, just one shy of the France record held by Just Fontaine.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez kept three clean sheets as he helped Argentina win the World Cup and was given the Golden Glove award.
He played every minute of the tournament and saved Frenchman Kingsley Coman’s spot-kick in the final shootout.
Morocco’s Yassine Bounou and England’s Jordan Pickford also kept three clean sheets as their sides reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively.
Argentina and Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez, 21, was named Young Player of the Tournament after a string of impressive performances in Qatar.
He started the final win over France and scored his only World Cup goal in the 2-0 victory over Mexico in the group stage.
Elsewhere, England won the FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the fewest bookings throughout the tournament.
AWARD WINNERS
Adidas Golden Ball: Lionel Messi
Adidas Golden Boot: Kylian Mbappe
Adidas Golden Glove: Emiliano Martinez
Best Young Player: Enzo Fernandez
FIFA Fair Play: England
PAST GOLDEN BOOT WINNERS
1930: Guillermo Stabile (8 goals)
1934: Oldrich Nejedly (5)
1938: Leonidas da Silva (7)
1950: Ademir de Menezes (9)
1954: Sandor Kocsis (11)
1958: Just Fontaine, France (13)
1962: Florian Albert, Garrincha,
Valentin Ivanov, Drazan Jerkovic,
Leonel Sanchez and Vava (4)
1966: Eusebio (9)
1970: Gerd Muller (10)
1974: Grzegorz Lato (7)
1978: Mario Kempes (6)
1982: Paolo Rossi (6)
1986: Gary Lineker (6)
1990: Toto Schillaci (6)
1994: Oleg Salenko and
Hristo Stoichkov (6)
1998: Davor Suker (6)
2002: Ronaldo (8)
2006: Miroslav Klose (5)
2010: Thomas Muller (5)
2014: James Rodriguez (6)
2018: Harry Kane (6)
