Lionel Messi, again candidate for best athlete of the year: who are his rivals and the Argentines in the jury

In a week, Lionel Messi He will once again be the protagonist of the ‘The Best’ award, with which FIFA rewards the best players of the calendar year. But this Monday, Rosario’s striker received another important appointment: he was included in the squad the finalists for the main category of the Laureus award, which selects the world’s best athlete and which he has already won twice.

The ‘Pulce’, world champion for the first time after his consecration in Qatar 2022, was one of the two players included in the roster, together with the French kylian mbappe, his teammate at Paris Saint-Germain. His other rivals? The tennis player Rafael Nadalthe Dutch pilot Max VerstappenSwedish athlete Armand Duplantisand the American basketball player Stephen Curry.

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Messi, 35, has won this award twice in a row in 2019 and 2020, although on that second occasion it was shared with the British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton.

“He inspired Argentina to glory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and continues to raise the bar in football”he supported the Laureus Academy to justify the choice of Rosario.

The nominees for the Laureus Awards, which have been held since 2000, were determined through a vote by sports media from around the world, although the winners will be chosen by a panel of 71 members of the greatest sports legends of all timeand announced during the second quarter of this year.

Among them, there is only two Argentines: former rugby player Hugh Door, who is considered the best Argentine player of the sport in history and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame; and the former lioness Luciana ‘Lotta’ Aymarworld star of field hockey and the only recipient of the International Federation’s (FIH) player of the year award eight times.

In the women’s branch, however, whoever aspires to the highest prize will be the Polish tennis player Iga Swiatekthe Spanish footballer Alexia Putellasthe American swimmer Katie Ledeckythe American skier Mikaela ShiffrinJamaican athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and her American colleague Sydney McLaughlin Levrone.

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The Argentine football team was not excluded from the nominations and was included in the “Best Team of the Year” category, after winning the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Those who accompany her in the vote are the England women’s national football teamthe men’s team Real Madrid of Spainthe men’s national team french rugbyTHE Golden State Warriors of the NBA and the team Red Bull formula 1.

Furthermore, among the revelations of 2022, there is the Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcarazrecent ATP champion from Buenos Aires and the youngest male world number 1 in history at 19 years, 4 months and 6 days, who will face the Kazakh tennis player Elena Rybakinathe men’s soccer team Moroccothe American skater Nathan ChenAmerican golfer Scottie Schefflerand the Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan.

Finally, five inspiring sports programmes have been shortlisted for the Laureus award sports foreverawarded annually to an individual or organization who, in the opinion of Academy members, have made a significant contribution to transforming the lives of children and young people through sport.

This year, these include a movement-based psychosocial support intervention developed by War Child, Save the Children and UNICEF Netherlands, which uses physical activity to relieve stress in children affected by war or conflict and which is particularly active in supporting refugees from Ukraine (team up); a program that uses boxing to challenge stereotypes and empower young women in Kenya (boxers); a football project aimed at educating and uplifting the homeless population in India (Slum football); a program whose mission is to make sport inclusive for people with disabilities in South Africa (Made for more) and a project in Germany that uses action sports to help orphan and migrant children integrate into new communities (High five).