Four months after winning his eighth Ballon d'Or, former PSG and FC Barcelona player Lionel Messi can hope to win a new trophy.
The winner of the 2023 World Cup is one of six nominees selected for the Laureus World Sports Awards for Sportsman of the Year, the awards ceremony of which will take place on April 22.
A distinction that the Inter Miami player has already won twice in 2020 and 2023.
To triumph once again, Messi will have to finish at the top of the ballots ahead of five other athletes who marked the past year.
Among the Argentine's rivals, we note the presence of Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian tennis player, who won three Grand Slams in 2023, can win a fifth time during this ceremony which would be historic.
Messi and Djokovic will have to be wary of Armand Duplantis.
The Swede set a new world record in pole vault in 2023 with a jump of 6m23.
The last three named are Manchester City serial scorer Erling Haaland, Max Verstappen, the Dutch RedBull driver who won the F1 championship and Noah Lyles who achieved the 100/200m double at the Budapest World Cup.
Unlike last year, Kylian Mbappé is not among those selected.
Among the women, the competition will also be tough.
Among the potential winners, we find the world number 1 at the WTA and victorious at Roland Garros in 2023 Iga Swiatek, the American ski champion Mikaela Shiffrin or even the Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon who established three world records in 2023 on the distances of 1,500m, 5,000m and mile.
Last year, it was Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who won the title of sportswoman of the year.
She is absent this year.