Lionel Messi will battle it out with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to be crowned FIFA Men’s Best for 2023

Sports
By James

By Nathan Salt for Ny Breaking

Published: | Updated:

Manchester City Treble winner Erling Haaland will face Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in a bid to be crowned FIFA Men's Best for 2023.

The world-class trio have been narrowed down to the finalists from the initial shortlist of 12 players, with Declan Rice, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva among a host of stars.

FIFA's Best Awards honor the most outstanding players in men's and women's football, running from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023.

Haaland, Messi and Mbappé, who was denied a goal against Borussia Dortmund last night thanks to spectacular defending from Niklas Sule, will discover the winner at a ceremony in London on January 15, 2024.

Messi won FIFA's Best in 2022 after leading Argentina to World Cup glory, and he finds himself back in the mix at the age of 36 after transforming Inter Miami's fortunes in the MLS.

HOW DO MBAPPE, MESSI AND HAALAND MAKE THE TOP THREE?

Here is the process of how the shortlist was reduced from twelve to three players:

  • From the shortlist of twelve players, each voter made their first, second and third choice for the prize.
  • Points were awarded to the nominees depending on where they placed (five points for first, three for second and one for third).
  • Nominated national team captains could not vote for themselves.
  • Selections from the four voting groups – coaches, captains, journalists and fans – each counted for 25 percent of the total votes, regardless of the number of voters from each group.
  • The Best FIFA Men's Player Award is presented to the person with the most points.
  • If the finalists have the same number of points, the prize will be awarded to the person who receives the most first-choice selections.

Despite Messi's greatness, he has a tall order against two of the sport's biggest young stars.

Messi's case is that he helped Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title last season, as well as being named in the Ligue 1 team of the season.

Messi also finished the 2022/23 season at No. 1 in the Ligue 1 assists list.

However, he is competing with one of his former teammates in Mbappe, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the world.

Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in last year's World Cup final but lost to Messi's Argentina, was crowned Ligue 1 Player of the Year after PSG's title win.

The fast Frenchman scores for fun and scored seventeen goals in his last twenty league games of last season. That included a staggering run of nine goals in six games at one stage.

More to follow.

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