Yes, Lionel Messi deserved to win the best FIFA Men’s player award in 2022. Messi was awarded as The Best Men’s Player in The Best FIFA Award Football ceremony held on 23rd February 2023 in Paris, France.
The Best FIFA Football Awards is an annual most prestigious award presented by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 2016. This award is said to be the rebranding of the FIFA World Player of the year award that were presented between 1991 and 2015. This award recognizes and honor the best male and female football players, coaches, and teams in the world.
How FIFA recognizes the best Men’s Player award?
The FIFA recognizes the best Men’s Player award on the basis of players individual performance and their contribution in all competition with the club and national team. Also, the winners are decided through a voting process that involves national team coaches and captains, selected journalists, and an online public vote. FIFA selection criteria for this category were considered during the period from 8th August 2021 to 18th December 2022.
- FIFA nominates the nominees initially.
- From the nominees list, votes were cast by men’s national team coaches and captains, football journalists and fan’s all around the world.
- Nominees were given points based on how voters cast their vote for the first (5 points), second (3 points) and third (1 point) position.
- Each voting groups (coaches, captains, Journalists and Fans) contributes 25 per cent of the total vote.
- The Player with the most points (Scoring Points) is awarded with the Best FIFA Men’s player award.
The Nominees of FIFA Best Men’s Player award 2022
FIFA initially nominated 14 players for The Best Men’s Player of the Year on 12 January 2023. The nominees were.
- Lioness Messi (Argentina)
- Neymar (Brazil)
- Luka Modric (Croatia)
- Kylian MBappe (France)
- Karim Benzema (France)
- Sadio Mane (Senegal)
- Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
- Vinicius Junior (Brazil)
- Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)
- Erling Haland (Norway)
- Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)
- Jude Bellingham (England)
- Julian Alvarez (Argentina)
- Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
Among these all nominees, 3 finalists were revealed on 10 February 2023 and the finalists were
- Lionel Messi
- Kylian MBappe
- Karim Benzema
The Winner of FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year 2022
The Argentinian magical Lionel Messi wins The Best FIFA Men’s Player award of 2022. Now, he wins this award for the second time & equals the number of records with Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Robert Lewandoski (Poland)
Lionel Messi come out on top in the voting ahead of finalists Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema
| Rank | Player | Country | Scoring Points |
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 54 |
| 2 | Kylian Mbappe | France | 44 |
| 3 | Karim Benzema | France | 34 |
How Messi outclasses the Ballon d’Or winner Benzema and Paris Saint Germain star Mbappe?
Focus on Messi
Lionel Messi produced a phenomenal performance during Argentina’s world cup campaign. He did a significant impact in Qatar World Cup by scoring 7 goals and 3 assists during the tournament and he played a vital role by scoring twice including the decisive penalty shootout in the World Cup final against France.
He had come close, reaching the final of the 2014 World Cup with Argentina, but they lost to Germany in extra time. But this time in 2022, he didn’t miss the opportunity and created the history by winning the World Cup trophy since 1986 in Qatar. This was one of the most dramatic World Cup finals of all-time & a ground-breaking World Cup experience with a fairy tale ending for Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi was honored with the Golden Ball award in Qatar 2022 & become first player to receive this award for the second time since Brazil WC 2014.
Since leaving Barcelona in summer 2021, Messi slowly settled his life with Paris St German but later he helped the team on winning the Ligue 1 title in his debut by scoring goals and creating opportunities.
In the 2022 Finalissima, Messi named as player of the match and helped the team winning the third edition of the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions at Wembly Stadium in London, England on 1 June 2022 against the 2020 EURO Cup Champion Italy. This is another international trophy for Lionel Messi in year 2022 & ahead of this, he also won the COPA America against Brazil in the Final on 11 July 2021.
Focus on Mbappe
On the other hand, Kylian Mbappe the winner of 2018 World Cup in Russia has been a standout performer for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) since the beginning of the season and he was phenomenal throughout the tournament and was the main player to help their nation to reach the final in Qatar 2022. Also, Mbappe was the key player for PSG on winning the League 1 title along with MNM.
Mbappe became only the second player in history to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final by scoring three goals against Argentina in 2022. Also, he became the outright top goal scorer in World Cup finals by scoring four goals in a final since Geoff Hurst for England in 1966. Addition to this, he also won the Golden Boot award in Qatar 2022.
Focus on Benzema
Karim Benzema the Real Madrid’s all-time second highest goal scorer and top assist provider scored 44 goals in 46 matches in last season with Real Madrid and helped the team on wining the Champions league, LaLiga, Spanish and European Super Cups. In 2022, Benzema won the prestigious Men’s Ballon d’Or for the first time in his career.
Sadly, he could not play in the Qatar world cup due to a left thigh injury he suffered in training and announced his retirement from France International football after the World Cup loss.
The Final Verdict
All three finalists deserve all the praises. But if we look closely, the wining more international awards has directly linked with wining the individual awards.
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