The world in 2022 has seen some outstanding achievements of athletes who left their mark on the year.
Argentine football superstar and 2022 FIFA World Cup champion Lionel Messi, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, World Cup silver medalist Kylian Mbappe of France, Real Madrid’s longtime French forward Karim Benzema, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, and US basketball superstar Stephen Curry were among those who made a big impact in their respective fields throughout 2022.
Messi’s historic World Cup win
In 2022 winter, Argentina’s Messi led his national team to the World Cup triumph in Qatar which the South American nation had been waiting for 36 years.
Before 2022, Argentina have won the World Cup twice.
Messi, 35, won the only missing piece in his trophy room with the win against France, as he now owns every top-tier title, club, and international tournament, including the Copa America, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.
On Dec. 18, Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties to secure the World Cup.
After the historic win, Messi’s Dec. 19 Instagram post titled “CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!” has received over 73 million likes — the most likes a post has received so far on the social media platform.
Mbappe, who rallied France in the historic final against Argentina, scored eight goals in the tournament in Qatar to win the Golden Boot award.
But the 24-year-old returned home with a silver medal.
Mbappe, who won the 2018 World Cup, scored 12 goals in the tournament’s history and now he has to score five more goals to beat German forward Miroslav Klose, who is still the record holder.
Having already retired from the game, Klose, the 2014 world champion, scored 16 goals in four editions (2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014) to be the World Cup’s all-time top scorer.
Messi’s biggest rival Ronaldo made history even though Portugal failed in the World Cup.
The Portuguese star became the all-time top scorer when his hat-trick on March 12 was enough to secure a 3-2 victory for Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur.
The 37-year-old attacker had 807 career goals to break Austrian-Czech player Josef Bican’s 805-goal record.
