Lionel Messi backs Mikel Arteta after subbing three managers including Arne Slot

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Lionel Messi gave his backing to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta in the voting process for the FIFA Best Men's Coach Award.

Former Barcelona forward Lionel Messi included Mikel Arteta in his voting for the FIFA Men’s Best Coach award. Selected captains, coaches, and media were given the opportunity to cast their votes for their chosen coach.

Luis Enrique, to whom Messi gave his five-point vote, won the award outright, finishing above the six other nominees. However, Messi gave his one-point vote to the Arsenal manager; the three-point vote went to Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick.

Arteta was the only coach of the seven nominees not to have won silverware in 2025. However, the Spaniard still finished fourth on the list overall behind Hansi Flick and Arne Slot, whom Messi did not vote for.

Arsenal and Norway captain Martin Odegaard gave his five points to Luis Enrique, three to Arteta, and one to Flick. Not entirely surprising, considering Enrique earned just under half the number of points on offer.

The perception of the Arsenal coach is clearly strong amongst the footballing landscape for him to be voted ahead of the likes of Enzo Maresca, Roberto Martinez and Javier Aguirre. The Chelsea boss, for example, won both the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Conference League but was considered not to have been worthy of more votes by the sport’s most influential people than the Arsenal manager.

In other FIFA Best Awards news, Declan Rice’s free-kick, which he scored in the Champions League first leg quarter-final against Real Madrid, was pipped to winning the Puskas Award by Independiente’s Santiago Montiel.

The Argentine winger produced a bicycle kick from outside the box, and earned the votes to win the award. Rice will be looking to solidify himself amongst the awards for Best Men’s Player, which was won this year by Ousmane Dembele.

If Arsenal are successful in their bid to win the Premier League and potentially the Champions League, both Arteta and Rice will be shoo-ins for the awards next year.