LIONEL Messi, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe have emerged as the finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
FIFA announced the top three today, along with the finalists for the women’s category: Beth Mead, Alex Morgan and Alexia Putellas.
The award ceremony will be held in Paris, France on February 27.
Messi is apparently the favourite after leading Argentina to win the Qatar 2022 World Cup in December, when he scored seven goals and was named the Most Valuable Player.
The 35-year-old Paris Saint-Germain forward also won the Ligue 1 title with his club last year and has a record seven Ballon d’Ors.
Benzema was the main inspiration behind Real Madrid’s success last season, when they won the prestigious La Liga and UEFA Champions League double, scoring important goals in all the knockout rounds.
The Frenchman however missed the World Cup through injury and also fell out with France manager Didier Deschamps.
On his part, Mbappe won the Ligue 1 title alongside Messi but lost the World Cup final with France to Argentina.
The 24-year-old was the top scorer in Qatar, including a stunning hat-trick in the dramatic final against Argentina, which ended 3-3 after extra-time before the South Americans prevailed on penalties.
In the women’s category, England and Arsenal star Mead won the 2022 European Championships with her country, while USA’s Morgan and Spain’s Putellas also had an outstanding year.
“These two awards are given to the outstanding players in women’s and men’s football as voted for by an international jury respectively comprising the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com,” the global body explained.
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