Aitana Bonmatí and Lionel Messi win Fifa best player awards for 2023

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Aitana Bonmatí said she was “proud” to be part of a generation of women “changing the game and the world” as the Spain World Cup star claimed the title of the Best Fifa women’s player for 2023 at a star-studded award ceremony in London.

Lionel Messi won the men’s award for a third time, but in a ceremony styled as a celebration of the women’s game, Bonmatí’s prize was the climactic moment of the night. The Spain and Barcelona forward, who said she was already nostalgic for 2023, was also the only person on stage to even hint at the Luis Rubiales scandal that tarnished the Women’s World Cup final.

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