90min

FIFA confirm 14 nominees for The Best Men's Player 2022 award

By Sean Walsh

Messi and Mbappe are both nominated
Messi and Mbappe are both nominated / JEWEL SAMAD/GettyImages
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FIFA have unveiled a 14-player shortlist for The Best Men's Player award for 2022.

The world football governing body has announced that this year's award will be handed out based on performances from the start of the 2021/22 season up until the conclusion of the 2022 World Cup.

After leading Argentina to glory in Qatar, Lionel Messi is unsurprisingly the headline name on the shortlist. He finished second in last year's award to Robert Lewandowski, who has also been nominated again.

Messi is not the only member of Argentina's squad up for The Best award, with Manchester City's Julian Alvarez receiving a nomination. The forward is joined on the shortlist by club-mates Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland.

The only other player nominated currently playing their club football in England is Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, though former teammate Sadio Mane, now of Bayern Munich, is too shortlisted.

Listen now as Scott Saunders hosts Graeme Bailey, Toby Cudworth and Tom Gott in the latest episode of Talking Transfers. This week they discuss Chelsea’s hectic transfer strategy, which includes a loan move for Joao Felix and interest in Romeo Lavia and Marcus Thuram among others, Man Utd’s pursuit of Burnley striker Wout Weghorst, Leandro Trossard’s Brighton future and more. Available on all audio platforms.

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast! 

In addition to Messi, PSG stars Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Achraf Hakimi have all been rewarded with nominations.

European champions Real Madrid have three players on the shortlist, with Luka Modric, Vinicius Junior and Ballon d'Or holder Karim Benzema making the cut.

Borussia Dortmund and England midfielder Jude Bellingham is the youngest player on the shortlist at 19 years of age.

Voting for the award is split into four groups - media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains and fan votes. Each group will have 25% of the overall vote.

The Best Men's Player 2022 shortlist

  • Julian Alvarez
  • Jude Bellingham
  • Karim Benzema
  • Kevin De Bruyne
  • Erling Haaland
  • Achraf Hakimi
  • Robert Lewanadowski
  • Sadio Mane
  • Kylian Mbappe
  • Lionel Messi
  • Luka Modric
  • Neymar
  • Mohamed Salah
  • Vinicius Junior
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