FIFA President Gianni Infantino
Doha: FIFA President Gianni Infantino hailed FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as the best in the history and thanked the host nation for presenting an ‘incredible’ tournament.
Speaking at the Best FIFA Football Awards 2023 ceremony in Paris on Monday night, Infantino said, “What a year we have had; last year we just experienced the best [FIFA] World Cup ever.”
“Let me thank Qatar once again! Shukran Qatar for hosting and welcoming the world and for uniting the world in what was an incredible event which we will never forget,” the FIFA President said. “This year is also a World Cup year, we’ll have the FIFA Women’s World Cup later this year in Australia and New Zealand and you are, of course, all invited to that as well.”
While opening the proceedings at the Awards, Infantino led a tribute to late Brazil legend Pele, one of the greatest players the game has ever seen.
“The King – O Rei – Pele. What can we say about Pele. Pele is football, Pele is simply football. And we lost him, we miss him a lot. But Pele is eternal, he is with us, he is always with us. He will always be with us. I would like to thank Pele’s family for being with us here tonight. Thank you so much.” During the glittering ceremony, Qatar 2022 winner, Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi won the men’s Player of the Year Award while Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas was named women’s player of the year for a second straight year.
Earlier, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was voted FIFA men’s coach of the year after leading his team to the World Cup title in December.
