London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Dec 09, 2025

Messi & Argentina World Cup team win Laureus awards

Messi & Argentina World Cup team win Laureus awards

Lionel Messi and his World Cup-winning Argentina scored a double by being named Sportsman and Team of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Argentina won the 2022 World Cup by beating France on penalties in the final following a thrilling 3-3 draw

Messi captained Argentina, scored seven times and won the Golden Ball as his country won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in December.

He is the first athlete to win the team and individual awards in the same year.

Sportswoman of the year went to Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

She won the women's 100m world title at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July, becoming the first person to win five golds in an individual track event at the championships.

"This is a special honour," said Paris St-Germain forward Messi, 35. "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."

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has won 10 outdoor world sprint titles, including relays


Fraser-Pryce's 100m gold came 13 years after her first and the 36-year-old has more world sprint titles than any other athlete.

She ran a sub-10.7-seconds 100m seven times in 2022, three more than the previous best for a female sprinter in a calendar year.

"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," she said.

"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."

Argentina lifted the World Cup for the third time, beating France in a penalty shootout in Doha after possibly the greatest final of all time, which ended in a 3-3 draw.

They beat England's Euro 2022-winning Lionesses, men's Champions League winners Real Madrid and France's men's Six Nations champions to win the award.

Manchester United and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen won Comeback of the Year following his return to football after collapsing on the pitch because of cardiac arrest during Euro 2020, while men's tennis world number two Carlos Alcaraz was awarded World Breakthrough of the Year after a 2022 in which the then 19-year-old won the US Open and became tennis' youngest men's number one.

The award winners were voted for by a selection of sporting greats who make up the members of the Laureus Academy.


Full awards list


* Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award: Lionel Messi

* Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

* Laureus World Team of the Year award: Argentina men's football team

* Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award: Carlos Alcaraz

* Laureus World Comeback of the Year award: Christian Eriksen

* Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award: Catherine Debrunner

* Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year award: Eileen Gu

* Laureus Sport for Good award: TeamUp (A programme for children displaced by war by Barcelona and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski)

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
"App recommendation" or disguised advertisement? ChatGPT Premium users are furious
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
Two and a Half Weeks After the Major Outage: A Cloudflare Malfunction Brings Down Multiple Sites
UK data-regulator demands urgent clarity on racial bias in police facial-recognition systems
Labour Uses Biscuits to Explain UK Debt — MPs Lean Into Social Media to Reach New Audiences
German President Lays Wreath at Coventry as UK-Germany Reaffirm Unity Against Russia’s Threat
UK Inquiry Finds Putin ‘Morally Responsible’ for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions on GRU
India backs down on plan to mandate government “Sanchar Saathi” app on all smartphones
King Charles Welcomes German President Steinmeier to UK in First State Visit by Berlin in 27 Years
UK Plans Major Cutback to Jury Trials as Crown Court Backlog Nears 80,000
UK Government to Significantly Limit Jury Trials in England and Wales
U.S. and U.K. Seal Drug-Pricing Deal: Britain Agrees to Pay More, U.S. Lifts Tariffs
UK Postpones Decision Yet Again on China’s Proposed Mega-Embassy in London
Head of UK Budget Watchdog Resigns After Premature Leak of Reeves’ Budget Report
Car-sharing giant Zipcar to exit UK market by end of 2025
Reports of Widespread Drone Deployment Raise Privacy and Security Questions in the UK
UK Signals Security Concerns Over China While Pursuing Stronger Trade Links
Google warns of AI “irrationality” just as Gemini 3 launch rattles markets
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
Macron Says Washington Pressuring EU to Delay Enforcement of Digital-Regulation Probes Against Meta, TikTok and X
UK’s DragonFire Laser Downs High-Speed Drones as £316m Deal Speeds Naval Deployment
UK Chancellor Rejects Claims She Misled Public on Fiscal Outlook Ahead of Budget
Starmer Defends Autumn Budget as Finance Chief Faces Accusations of Misleading Public Finances
EU Firms Struggle with 3,000-Hour Paperwork Load — While Automakers Fear De Facto 2030 Petrol Car Ban
White House launches ‘Hall of Shame’ site to publicly condemn media outlets for alleged bias
UK Budget’s New EV Mileage Tax Undercuts Case for Plug-In Hybrids
UK Government Launches National Inquiry into ‘Grooming Gangs’ After US Warning and Rising Public Outcry
Taylor Swift Extends U.K. Chart Reign as ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Hits Six Weeks at No. 1
250 Still Missing in the Massive Fire, 94 Killed. One Day After the Disaster: Survivor Rescued on the 16th Floor
Trump: National Guard Soldier Who Was Shot in Washington Has Died; Second Soldier Fighting for His Life
UK Chancellor Reeves Defends Tax Rises as Essential to Reduce Child Poverty and Stabilise Public Finances
No Evidence Found for Claim That UK Schools Are Shifting to Teaching American English
European Powers Urge Israel to Halt West Bank Settler Violence Amid Surge in Attacks
"I Would Have Given Her a Kidney": She Lent Bezos’s Ex-Wife $1,000 — and Received Millions in Return
European States Approve First-ever Military-Grade Surveillance Network via ESA
UK to Slash Key Pension Tax Perk, Targeting High Earners Under New Budget
UK Government Announces £150 Annual Cut to Household Energy Bills Through Levy Reforms
UK Court Hears Challenge to Ban on Palestine Action as Critics Decry Heavy-Handed Measures
Investors Rush Into UK Gilts and Sterling After Budget Eases Fiscal Concerns
UK to Raise Online Betting Taxes by £1.1 Billion Under New Budget — Firms Warn of Fallout
Lamine Yamal? The ‘Heir to Messi’ Lost to Barcelona — and the Kingdom Is in a Frenzy
Warner Music Group Drops Suit Against Suno, Launches Licensed AI-Music Deal
HP to Cut up to 6,000 Jobs Globally as It Ramps Up AI Integration
×