Argentina captain Lionel Messi And Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe led the final shortlist for the FIFA Best Men’s Player award, while Alex Morgan was among the favorites to win the women’s award.
Messi was defeated in the FIFA Best Men’s Player award Bayern Munich front Robert lewandowski last year. Alexia Putellas won the women’s award last January.
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The latest shortlist was narrowed down to the final three on Friday with Messi and Mbappe facing Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema for the prize.
Messi, 35, won his first World Cup when Lionel Scaloni’s side beat Mbappe and France on the penalty spot after a thrilling 3-3 draw. The 35-year-old has contributed seven goals and three assists in seven matches at the tournament in Qatar.
The Paris Saint-Germain The striker also contributed 29 goals in 25 appearances for the French champions this season.
Mbappe also impressed at the World Cup in Qatar when he won the Golden Boot with eight goals and became the second male player to score a hat-trick in the final.
The women’s shortlist is narrowed down to Morgan, Putellas and Beth Mead.
Morgan finished as the NWSL’s top scorer last season on her debut against the San Diego Wave, scoring 15 goals in 17 appearances.
The United States forward was named player of the tournament at the CONCACAF Championship, notably for the winning goal in the final.
Putellas had a strong year before an ACL injury just before Euro 2022 kept her out of action ever since.
The midfielder has scored 34 goals in all competitions for Barcelona, helping her side win a domestic treble. She is also the top scorer in the Champions League with 11 goals.
Putellas is vying to be the first to win the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award for a second consecutive season after she also won the Women’s Ballon d’Or in 2022.
weapon forward Mead won player of the tournament after scoring six goals for England during their Euro 2022 championship campaign last summer. She finished as runner-up in the Women’s Golden Ball 2022 Barcelonaby Putellas.
Mead tore his ACL in November and was sidelined for a long time with injury, although England coach Sarina Wiegman said it was It’s too “early” to exclude the striker from the World Cup starting from July.
The England coach was also shortlisted for the final FIFA Women’s Coach award alongside Brazilian coach Pia Sundhage and Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor.
FIFA’s The Best award presented for the first time in its present form to cristiano ronaldo in 2016. Before that, the FIFA World Player of the Year award took place in parallel with France Football’s Golden Ball from 1991 to 2009.
However, from 2010 to 2015, these two awards merged to become the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
Ronaldo is the only player to have won this award twice, as he held it in 2017, although Messi can’t equalize his record.
The awards will be awarded on February 27.
