A select panel of National Sports Media Association (NSMA) voters has chosen 35-year-old soccer star Lionel Messi, who plays as forward for Ligue 1 Club Paris Saint-Germaine and Captain of the Argentina National team, as the winner of the December 2022 Hickok Belt® Award. Messi captained Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup title in December with a 4-2 score on penalty kicks, scoring a goal in the penalty shootout versus France. He broke the record for the unequaled career appearances in World Cup tournaments with 26 matches played. In 1,003 appearances, Messi has scored 793 goals and has 360 assists to his name. To his fans worldwide, Lionel Messi has secured his status as “The G.O.A.T.”
Other finalists for the month of December in order of how the NSMA voters ranked them were: Luka Doncic (basketball), Kylian Mbappe (soccer), Jared Goff (football), Joel Embid (basketball), Connor McDavid (hockey), Pyotr Kochetkov (hockey) and Justin Jefferson (football) – tie, Tyson Fury (boxing), and Derrick Henry (football).
Messi’s selection as the Hickok Belt® Award winner for December 2022 recognizes him as “the best of the best” in professional sports for the month, and makes him the eleventh candidate eligible to receive the overall award in 2022, joining Luka Doncic, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Rory McIlroy, Novak Djokovic, Steph Curry, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Cooper Kupp, based on NSMA voting.
To learn more about the Hickok Belt® Award and its history, visit https://hickokbelt.com.
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