Similar to the World Cup final, Paris Saint-Germain teammates Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe will face off for The Best FIFA Men's Player award for 2022 on Monday. Karim Benzema, the winner of the Ballon d'Or, will be the third candidate.
After leading Argentina to victory over Mbappe's France in that thrilling match in Qatar, Messi seems to be the favorite to win another individual award at the ceremony in Paris. Messi has won the Ballon d'Or seven times and the FIFA Award once in 2019. The FIFA Award was established in 2016 after FIFA severed ties with the Ballon d'Or organizers, France Football.
Messi finished second to Robert Lewandowski in each of the last two championships, but the 35-year-career-crowning old's World Cup victory was the pivotal event of 2022. Fans can cast their votes, but the winner is chosen by a jury that includes the head coach and captain of each men's national team as well as one journalist from each nation.
Mbappe tied the score at 3-3 after extra time despite Messi scoring twice, becoming the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. Ultimately, France lost in a penalty shootout. The tournament's leading scorer was Mbappe, who turned 24 shortly after the final and had one more goal than Messi, who won the Golden Ball award for the best player, with eight goals.
Despite being joined at PSG by Messi, who was the top scorer in Ligue 1 and the player of the year for France, he was also without a doubt the club's most crucial player in the year leading up to the World Cup. Their World Cup triumphs, however, take center stage.
Messi has the best chance of winning because he won the World Cup, as Ruud Gullit, a former Ballon d'Or winner, acknowledged.
Gullit, a Dutchman, was speaking in his capacity as a member of the Laureus Academy, which recently nominated Messi and Mbappe for their respective awards. "But Mbappe is someone I greatly respect. He is equal to me in my eyes. It was unbelievable what he did in the end to accept that responsibility "Added he.
