Messi or Mbappe? These are the candidates for the FIFA The Best Trophy for the year 2022

After their great duel on December 18 in the World Cup final in Qatar, won by Argentina, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé are emerging as the great contenders for the FIFA The Best Trophy for best player of the year 2022, whose list of candidates was revealed this Thursday.

Neymar, his Brazilian teammate from Paris Saint-Germain, is also on that list, along with names like the current French Ballon d’Or Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), the Norwegian prodigy Erling Haaland (Manchester City) or the Croatian Luka Modric (Real Madrid). Cristiano Ronaldo does not appear, who at the beginning of January announced the end of the stage of his career in Europe to start a new adventure in Saudi Arabia.

In addition to Messi, another member of world champion Argentina is among the nominees, Julián Álvarez (Manchester City).

This first list, made up of fourteen names in the main male category, will be reduced at the beginning of February 2023 to three finalists in each category, after the fans vote online until February 3 for their favorites.

The winner of The Best will be announced on February 27.

In the women’s category, the two-time Spanish Ballon d’Or Alexia Putellas aspires to The Best, together with her FC Barcelona teammate and compatriot Aitana Bonmatí. The English Beth Mead (Arsenal) and the Australian Sam Kerr (Chelsea) also appear to be among the main contenders.

As the best men’s coach, the coaches of Argentina (Lionel Scaloni) and France (Didier Deschamps) are candidates, but also the Italian Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid, winner of the last Champions League) or the Moroccan coach, Walid Regragui, who led his team to fourth place in the World Cup and won the African Champions League with Wydad Casablanca.

FIFA will also reward the best coach, the best goalkeeper, the best goalkeeper and also the author or author of the best goal of the year (Puskas Award), a category in which Messi is not but Mbappé is, for one of his goals in the World Cup final.

List of candidates for the 2022 FIFA awards in the different categories:

best player

Aitana Bonmatí (Spain – FC Barcelona)

Debinha (Brazil – North Carolina Courage)

Jessie Fleming (Canada – Chelsea)

Ada Hegerberg (Norway – Lyon)

Sam Kerr (Australia – Chelsea)

Beth Mead (England – Arsenal)

Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands – Arsenal)

Alex Morgan (United States – Orlando Pride and San Diego Wave)

Lena Oberdorf (Germany – Wolfsburg)

Alexandra Popp (Germany – Wolfsburg)

Alexia Putellas (Spain – FC Barcelona)

Wendie Renard (France–Lyon)

Keira Walsh (England – Manchester City and FC Barcelona)

Leah Williamson (England – Arsenal)

Best player

Julián Álvarez (Argentina – River Plate and Manchester City)

Jude Bellingham (England – Borussia Dortmund)

Karim Benzema (France – Real Madrid)

Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium – Manchester City)

Erling Haaland (Norway – Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City)

Achraf Hakimi (Morocco – Paris Saint-Germain)

Robert Lewandowski (Poland – FC Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona)

Sadio Mané (Senegal – Liverpool and Bayern Munich)

Kylian Mbappé (France – Paris Saint-Germain)

Lionel Messi (Argentina – Paris Saint-Germain)

Luka Modric (Croatia – Real Madrid)

Neymar (Brazil – Paris Saint-Germain)

Mohamed Salah (Egypt – Liverpool)

Vinícius Junior (Brazil – Real Madrid)

best trainer

Sonia Bompastor (France – Lyon)

Emma Hayes (England – Chelsea)

Bev Priestman (England – Canada)

Pia Sundhage (Sweden – Brazil)

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (Germany – Germany)

Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands – England and Netherlands)

best coach

Carlo Ancelotti (Italy – Real Madrid)

Didier Deschamps (France – France)

Pep Guardiola (Spain – Manchester City)

Walid Regragui (Morocco – Wydad Casablanca and Morocco)

Lionel Scaloni (Argentina – Argentina)

best archer

Ann-Katrin Berger (Germany – Chelsea)

Mary Earps (England – Manchester United)

Christiane Endler (Chile – Lyon)

Merle Frohms (Germany – Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg)

Alyssa Naeher (United States – Chicago Red Stars)

Sandra Paños (Spain – FC Barcelona)

best goalkeeper

Alisson Becker (Brazil – Liverpool)

Yassine Bounou (Morocco – Seville)

Thibaut Courtois (Belgium – Real Madrid)

Ederson (Brazil – Manchester City)

Emiliano Martinez (Argentina – Aston Villa)

Puskas Award for best goal

Mario Balotelli (Italy) : Adana Demirspor – Göztepe Izmir (22 May 2022)

Amandine Henry (France) : FC Barcelona – Lyon (21 May 2022)

Théo Hernández (France) : AC Milan – Atalanta (May 15, 2022)

Alou Kuol (Australia) : Iraq – Australia U21 (June 4, 2022)

Kylian Mbappé (France) : Argentina – France (December 18, 2022)

Francisco González Metilli (Argentina) : Central Córdoba – Rosario Central (August 1, 2022)

Marcin Oleksy (Poland) : Warta Poznań – Stal Rzeszów (November 6, 2022)

Salma Paralluelo (Spain) : FC Barcelona – Villarreal (2 April 2022)

Dimitri Payet (France) : Marseille – PAOK Thessaloniki (7 April 2022)

Richarlison (Brazil) : Brazil – Serbia (24 November 2022)

Alessia Russo (England) : England v Sweden (July 26, 2022)

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