Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe in the top 3 nominees for the 2023 World Player of the Year award

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has just announced the top 3 nominees for the 2023 World Player of the Year award (The Best). Lionel Messi was named, becoming the first player playing in a league outside of Europe to be on this list.

Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe are in the top 3 of The Best 2023. (Source: FIFA)

In the process of voting for The Best 2023, FIFA initially selected 12 players, then eliminated 9 and left 3 best players.

Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Erling Haaland (Man City) and Kylian Mbappe (PSG) finally surpassed 9 candidates including Julian Alvarez, Marcelo Brozovic, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen and Declan Rice.

According to the voting criteria, FIFA The Best 2023 calculates achievements from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023.

Explaining the selection of star Lionel Messi in this list, FIFA emphasized: "Returning after the 2022 World Cup, where Messi captivated global audiences at the age of 36, he won the Ligue 1 championship with PSG. This is the second time he has won this title during his time playing in France.

Messi was also named in the Ligue 1 team of the year and topped the league's assist charts.

The latest and biggest challenge for Messi's career came in July 2023, when he scored more than 100 goals for Argentina and became the all-time top scorer in Europe's top five leagues.

Messi has crossed the Atlantic to join Inter Miami, a transfer greeted with enthusiasm by fans across North America.

He also created some of the greatest football matches of all time, keeping audiences everywhere enthusiastically following his great runs even at the age of 36."

With Haaland, this striker is the leading candidate for the FIFA The Best 2023 award thanks to the historic "treble" with Man City (Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup).

The Norwegian also scored 52 goals in 53 matches in these tournaments, won the European Golden Boot, the Premier League's top scorer and won the Premier League's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards.

PSG's Mbappe is also in the top 3 but is not highly rated for the award. In the performance phase, Mbappe scored 17 goals in 20 matches in Ligue 1, but this player played poorly when PSG was eliminated from the Champions League round of 16.

In addition to announcing the top 3 nominees for the Best Men's Player award, FIFA also announced the top 3 best men's football coaches, including coach Pep Guardiola (Man City), Simone Inzaghi (Inter) and Luciano Spalletti (Napoli and the Italian national team). Last year's winner was coach Lionel Scaloni (Argentina).

In the women's category, the three nominees for the 2023 FIFA Best Women's Player Award include Aitana Bonmati, Linda Caicedo and Jennifer Hermoso.

FIFA's The Best award was launched in 2016, replacing the previous Ballon d'Or. After 7 awards, 4 players have been honored: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi (both twice) and Luka Modric.

The official results will be announced at The Best 2023 awards ceremony on January 15, 2024.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/lionel-messi-erling-haaland-kylian-mbappe-vao-top-3-de-cu-giai-cau-thu-nam-xuat-sac-nhat-the-gioi-2023-253997.html