Haaland won the coaches' backing at FIFA Best Player as 3 top bosses snub Messi
Lionel Messi triumphed at FIFA's The Best award after winning the players' backing - but more coaches favoured Erling Haaland after a breakdown of the vote.
The World Cup winner added another accolade to his glittering list of honours - having also taken home the Ballon d'Or for the eighth time - after a memorable year that saw him finally lift the Jules Rimet trophy in Qatar in 2022.
Messi pipped Haaland to the prize despite scoring the same amount of points as the Man City forward on 48 - with the Argentine winning the award after earning more 'five point' votes from captains.
That popularity from nations' skippers was telling as a number of top ranked sides backed the Inter Miami star - including seven of the international teams in FIFA's top ten ranked sides.
France captain Kylian Mbappe - who finished in third with 35 points - picked Messi, despite being rivals with him for the award, followed by Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne.
And England skipper Harry Kane also gave Messi the nod, picking Haaland second and then Man City's Bernardo Silva in third.
Messi was also the name picked by Belgium captain Romelu Lukaku, Netherlands skipper Virgil van Dijk, Italy captain Gianluigi Donnarumma and Croatia's Luka Modric.
It's perhaps not a surprise that Portugal captain Pepe - a staunt former opponent of Messi from their LaLiga days - snubbed the forward from his top three, instead picking countryman Bernardo Silva as his winner, followed by Haaland and Victor Osimhen.
However, Haaland did receive the backing of some of Man City's Premier League rivals.
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, his team-mate at international level with Norway, gave the forward his first choice vote.
Man United defender Victor Lindelof, Sweden's captain, put the
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