Sport16.01.2023 - 19:19

Mbappe and Messi in the race for FIFA's The Best award

Mbappe is also up for best goal in the World Cup final against Argentina.

Фото: Photo LP / Fred Dugit

Argentina's Lionel Messi and France's Kylian Mbappe, facing each other in the World Cup finals, are expected to battle it out for the 2022 World Player of the Year award, the list of nominees was released Thursday.

Neymar, the third member of the Paris Saint-Germain team, is also among the nominees, as are Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema, Norwegian prodigy Erling Haaland and Croatia's Luka Modric. The result will be announced Feb. 27. Soccer fans can vote online until Feb. 3 at 11:59 p.m. FIFA will announce the three finalists in each category in early February 2023.

Only four players have claimed the award since its creation in 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo (2016, 2017), Luka Modric (2018), Lionel Messi (2019) and Robert Lewandowski (2020, 2021).

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