(Football news) Argentina’s World Cup winning captain Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe lead the final shortlist for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award, while Alex Morgan is one of the favourites to win the Best FIFA Women’s Player Prize. Messi was beaten by Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski last year to win the award . Alexia Putellas won the award last January and has been nominated this year also despite a serve ACL tear. The latest shortlist was narrowed down to with Messi and Mbappe up against Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema to win the award.
Messi won his first ever World Cup title as Lionel Scaloni’s side beat France on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw. The 35-year-old contributed seven goals and three assists in Qatar as the Paris Saint-Germain forward also has 29 goal contributions in 25 appearances for the French champions this season. Mbappe has also impressed during the World Cup in Qatar by picking up the Golden Boot with eight goals and becoming only the second male player to score a hat trick in the final. Messi and Mbappe become only the third duo from the same club to feature in the final three of the FIFA best player.
The women’s shortlist featured Morgan, Putellas and Beth Mead. Morgan will be back to the bug stage as he finished as the NWSL’s top scorer last season in her debut with the San Diego Wave, scoring 15 times in 17 appearances. The United States forward was named player of the tournament at the CONCACAF Championship. Putellas on the other hand had a strong year before an ACL injury that ruled her out of action ever since. The midfielder scored 34 goals in all competitions for Barcelona and helped lead her side to a historic treble. She was also a key member in the Champions League as she was the top scorer with 11 goals.
Putellas is aiming to become the first person to win The Best FIFA Women’s award for a second consecutive season after she won the women’s Ballon d’Or in 2022. Arsenal forward Mead won player of the tournament after scoring six goals for England in their Euro 2022 winning campaign last summer. She finished as runner-up in the 2022 Ballon d’Or also but Mead ruptured an ACL in November and faces a lengthy period out through injury.
The Best award was first given to Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016 as previously, the FIFA World Player of the Year award ran parallel to France Football’s Ballon d’Or from 1991 to 2009. However, from 2010 to 2015, the two awards decided to merge to become the FIFA Ballon d’Or as Ronaldo is the only player to win the award twice, when he retained it in 2017, though Messi could equal his tally if he wins the awards will be presented on Feb. 27 as he will certainly be the favourite to lift the trophy for only the second time in his career.
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