The Best: Benzema, Mbappé and Messi are finalists for the best in the world award | international football

Benzema, Mbappé or Messi: one of the three stars will be the best player in the world at the end of this month. FIFA announced this Friday the three finalists for The Best 2023 award, with the French duo competing against the Argentine playmaker. The winner will be revealed on February 27th, when there will be a gala ceremony to hand over the trophy.

The entity decided to include the World Cup in the period analyzed by voters – and thus, in addition to the entire 2021/22 season, the first half of 2022/23 is taken into account in the analysis. In October, Karim Benzema won the Ballon d’Oran award from France Football magazine that did not include the Cup.

In this way, the Real Madrid striker is seen as a strong candidate to take the trophy, although he finds in Messi a worthy rival – and, for many, the big favorite. The Argentine star won the world title with the Argentine national team in Qatar, in December, ending the absence of more than 30 years for the South Americans and reaching the glory he most sought in his career. In addition, Messi was elected the star of the World Cup, collecting praise, in addition to seven goals and three assists. For PSG, he

Last month, FIFA had revealed a list of 14 athletes competing for the trophy, which included Julián Álvarez (Argentina and Manchester City), Bellingham (England and Borussia Dortmund), Benzema (France and Real Madrid), De Bruyne (Belgium and Manchester City), Haaland (Norway and Manchester City), Hakimi (Morocco and PSG), Vinicius Junior (Brazil and Real Madrid), Lewandowski (Poland and Barcelona), Mané (Senegal and Bayern Munich), Mbappé (France and PSG), Messi (Argentina and PSG), Modric (Croatia and Real Madrid), Neymar (Brazil and PSG) and Salah (Egypt and Liverpool).

The 14 names were nominated by a college of notable former players assembled by FIFA. The final vote took place between the coaches and captains of the national teams, as well as journalists representing each federation. The public also participated in the election through the entity’s official website, with open voting until February 3rd.

The FIFA award, which was once unified with the Ballon d’Or, is now in its seventh edition under its current name. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lewandowski are the biggest winners, with two each. Modric and Messi have also won.

FIFA has held its official awards since 1991. Between 2010 and 2015, there was a unification with France Football before the creation of the current The Best. Adding up all the trophies, Messi is the one most awarded, with six. See the list below: