Laureus Awards 2023: India's Slum Soccer nominated for 'Sport for Good' Award

India-based Slum Soccer, a football project aimed at educating and elevating the homeless population in the country, was on Monday nominated for this year's Laureus Sport for Good Award.

The Laureus Sport for Good Award recognises an individual or organisation who has made a significant contribution to transforming the lives of children and young people through sport.

Slum Soccer will compete with four other nominees for the award.

Argentina's football World Cup winning captain Lionel Messi and France's Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the final to earn the Golden Boot, were among the nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.

Formula One driver Max Verstappen joined Messi and tennis star Rafael Nadal as past winners of this award on the 2023 shortlist.

Mondo Duplantis, who broke the pole vault world record on three occasions and won world titles indoors and outdoors, and NBA star Steph Curry are the other nominees for the top men's award.

The race for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award is led by two athletes who lit up the World Championships in Eugene, USA -- Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

Katie Ledecky, who won four golds, taking her total to 22, a record for a female swimmer, footballer Alexia Putellas, Mikaela Shiffrin, who regained her overall title at the Alpine Ski World Cup, and tennis player Iga Świątek are the other nominees for the women's top award.

The nominees for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award include the Argentina men's football team, which won a third World Cup, Real Madrid, who claimed their 14th title, NBA champions The Golden State Warriors, the Oracle Red Bull Racing team, France men's rugby side and England women's football team.

The award winners will be announced at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Tennis talents -- Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina -- have been nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.

Also nominated are the Morocco men's football team who captivated the world on their adventure to the semi-finals of the World Cup; Nathan Chen, the figure skater who added Olympic gold to a world title; and Tobi Amusan, who broke the 100m hurdles world record on the way to claiming Nigeria's first-ever gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

The shortlist for the Laureus Sport for Good Award includes a movement-based psychosocial support intervention developed by War Child, Save the Children and UNICEF the Netherlands that uses physical activity to relieve stress in children affected by war or conflict (TeamUp); one that uses boxing to challenge stereotypes and empower young women in Kenya (Boxgirls); a programme whose mission is to make sport inclusive for people with disabilities in South Africa (Made For More) and a project in Germany that uses action sports to help orphaned and migrant children integrate into new communities (High Five).