A group of sports journalists from Argentina’s Circulo de Periodistas Deportivos presented football player Lionel Messi with the Olimpia de Oro, the nation’s top sporting honor, early on Thursday morning.
The PSG striker, who had helped the “Albiceleste” win the World Cup, was honored as the sportsman of the year at the 69th annual Olimpia awards ceremony in Buenos Aires.
Messi, who is currently recuperating in Rosario, Argentina, with his family, missed the ceremony because he already won it in 2011 and 2021. The PSG striker, who is 35 years old, recently won the World Cup in Qatar 2022 after a career filled with both team and individual championships.
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Messi won ten La Liga championships, eight Super Cups, seven Copa del Reys, four Champions Leagues, three European Super Cups, and three Club World Cups during his 17 seasons with Barcelona. He has since added a Ligue 1 championship and a French Super Cup with PSG. Additionally, he won the Ballon d’Or seven times and was named the World Cup’s best player twice: in 2022, when the ‘Albiceleste’ won their third trophy in history, and in 2014, when Argentina lost to Germany in the championship game.
Messi signed the one trophy he was still lacking on Sunday: the World Cup. He had already won the Copa America with the “Scaloneta” in 2021 and the Finalissima against Italy, the reigning Euro champions.