The 14-player shortlist for FIFA‘s 2022 The Best awards, which honor athletes from 8 August 2021 to 18 December 2022, has been made public. In other words, the World Cup performance of each player will be taken into consideration. As a result, some stars, like Messi, are considered favorites, which puts Haaland at a disadvantage.
The finalists for the 2022 The Best awards are Sadio Mane, Achraf Hakimi, Julien Alvarez, Karim Benzema, Kevin de Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Vinicius Junior, Neymar, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Robert Lewandowski, and Jude Bellingham. A few weeks after the World Cup, which was an incredible edition, ended, FIFA announced the shortlist.
The organization stated that from August 8, 2021, the commencement of the 2021–22 season, through December 18, 2022, player performances would be considered. The international competition described in the preceding sentence came to a conclusion on this most recent date. It’s important to keep in mind that Argentina, home to two of the prize-seekers, took home the grand prize.
Some athletes, like Messi or Julian Alvarez, who shone in December, will be happy with the prize’s time frame. Others, like Erling Haaland, will suffer a disadvantage. Even though he played brilliantly for Man City, Norway was not represented in the World Cup, therefore he was unable to compete with the other players to prove his value.
Veterans like Luka Modric stand out among the nominees because he is unquestionably a leader for Croatia and once again one of the greatest in the world. Along with the transfer market sensations and players that consistently appear in these types of rankings, such as Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, and Neymar, there are also a lot of intriguing young players like Jude Bellingham.
