The 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony, the most prestigious honours in sport, will be held in the French capital here on May 8.
The event will mark a return to a physical awards format, following two years of virtual presentations as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, read a statement from the organisers. The guest list for this year’s event will be announced in due course and will include many of the sensational sporting figures nominated by the world’s sporting media for the Laureus Award categories. Providing local interest will be Paris-based global football star and winner of the 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina, Lionel Messi, who is nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award alongside his Paris St Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé.
Competing for that same statuette will be Rafael Nadal, who picked up an unprecedented 14th French Open title in Paris last May which took him to top of the all-time list of men’s Grand Slam champions with 22 titles. Iga Świątek also triumphed at Roland Garros in 2022 and followed it up with a win at the US Open to earn a nomination in the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year category. The France men’s rugby team have been nominated in the Laureus Team of the Year category – alongside Messi’s Argentina – for their heroics in winning the six-nations and completing the Grand Slam in 2022.