The three finalists for FIFA the Best Men’s Player award in 2022 are Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, and Karim Benzema.
Four groups of voters – coaches, captains, journalists, and fans – were given a 14-player shortlist and chose their first, second and third picks to win the prize, and three players with the highest scores would move on to the final voting.
To win the FIFA the best award, voters will once again be asked to choose between Benzema, Messi, and Mbappe. The award is based on the players’ performances from August 8, 2021, to December 18, 2022.
Only Messi has ever received the honor out of the trio. Messi took first place in 2019 and has only missed the top three once since the award’s inception in 2016 – he was left out in 2018, when Luka Modric won.
Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina, has been in excellent form for Paris Saint-Germain since Christophe Galtier’s arrival.
Mbappe, a Frenchman and Messi’s teammate at PSG, also makes the cut because of his absurdly high rate of club and national goal scoring. He scored eight goals at the World Cup, moving him up to sixth place overall in the competition’s scoring rankings. Keep in mind that he is only 24.
Unlike Messi and Mbappe, Benzema did not play at the World Cup. Injury cost the Frenchman one final shot at international glory but did not hamper his year, in which he won the Ballon d’Or for his mesmeric performances with Real Madrid.