Messi To Win Another Award? Bellingham & Haaland Nominated

The 25th Laureus World Sports Awards have Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham, and Erling Haaland on their list of nominees for significant categories.

The Inter Miami sensation Messi is a candidate for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award, which was previously given to him in 2023. Over the past 12 months, Messi has added more Ballons d’Or and FIFA Best Awards to his collection.

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Treble-winning Manchester City striker Haaland – who has already been pipped to a Golden Ball and FIFA gong by Argentine icon Messi – is also in the running for the Sportsman award and has said of that nod: “Last year was a very special year for me and the whole team. I couldn’t have scored the number of goals I did without my incredible teammates, the coaches and staff at the club, without them the success would not be possible. I am really proud to be nominated for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award alongside so many other incredible athletes.”

City – who claimed Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles last season – are up for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award, with head coach Pep Guardiola saying: “We are really proud for our club to have been nominated for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award. Of course we are nominated because we won so much last season and the credit must go to all our players and all our staff who worked so hard throughout the season to compete in England and across Europe. It is an honour to be included in such an illustrious list of teams who also achieved success at the elite level of sport last year.”

Jude Bellingham, a 20-year-old England international who has already won the Kopa Trophy and Golden Boy, is one of the nominees for the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award. Other nominees include Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang, Scottish middle distance runner Josh Kerr, teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff, and fellow football players Linda Caicedo and Salma Paralluelo, who drew attention during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

On April 22, the glamorous Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony will take place in Madrid. Among the other well-known names on a star-studded list of nominees in multiple categories are Novak Djokovic, Aitana Bonmati, Sha’Carri Richardson, Max Verstappen, Shericka Jackson, and Simone Biles.