By Gilad Nagar
Amongst the highest honors in football worldwide is ‘The Best FIFA Football Awards’, an annual award given to the most outstanding members of ‘The Beautiful Game’. The footballing international governing body gives awards to the best players, coaches and fans for their outstanding achievements in the year prior.
A key difference between this award ceremony and others, such as the Ballon d’Or handed out by France Football, is that four major groups decide the award winners in all categories. These four groups contribute an equal 25% to the overall ranking and are: media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains and the general public. FIFA’s rationale behind this, is to recognize football fans in the annual celebrations and give them a pivotal and active part to play.
With the 2022 edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony coming up, let’s take a look at the key information regarding the time, location and candidates for these prestigious awards.
Where and When Will The Ceremony Take Place?
The newest winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 will be crowned on the 27th of February 2023 in Paris, France. For the first time in 3 years FIFA’s annual football celebration will be held in person, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 and 2021 versions of the ceremony to be held virtually. The illustrious prizes will be awarded for the playing period between the 8th of August 2021 and the 18th of December 2022, with the latter date being the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final.
What Awards Can Be Won?
Since the inaugural ceremony held in Zurich Switzerland on the 9th of January, awards have been given to the most outstanding performer of the previous year. The original awards were handed out to The Best FIFA Men’s Player, The Best FIFA Men’s Coach, The Best FIFA Women’s Player and The Best FIFA Women’s Coach.
Along with these individual awards, FIFA has also awarded both the FIFA Puskas Award and FIFA Fair Play Award since the inauguration of the ceremony. Named after legendary Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskas, the Puskas Award is awarded to the player with the most aesthetically pleasing or most beautiful goal scored during the given time period. The FIFA Fair Play Award however, is a recognition of stellar and exemplary behavior that promotes the spirit of fair play and compassion in professional football. Whilst these two awards were introduced prior to the first FIFA Football Awards, in 2009 and 1987 respectively, the Puskas Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award have been a part of FIFA’s annual commemoration since its establishment in 2016.
To praise the efforts of goalkeepers worldwide, both the Men’s and Women’s FIFA Best Goalkeeper awards were introduced in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Likewise, FIFA’s ongoing attempt to explicitly express their appreciation of global football fans is emphasized through their awarding of the FIFA Fan Award.
Candidates for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2022
Initially shortlisted on the 12th of January 2023, 14 nominees were announced for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award. Paris Saint-Germain topped the awards in terms of most players nominated, with 4 first team players being named. Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Achraf Hakimi and Neymar are the four stars nominated for The Parisians. Real Madrid came close in second with 3 players named along with Manchester City. German outlets Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund each had two players nominated for FIFA’s most supreme award and so did Liverpool.
Interesting to note is that for the first time in the award ceremony’s history there is a non-European team with a player nominated. Argentinian youngster Julian Alvarez played for River Plate between the 8th of August 2021 and January 2022. Despite completing his permanent transfer to Manchester City in the winter of 2022, he was sent back on loan to Los Millonarios for the remainder of the 2021/22 season where he scored a further 18 goals in 26 games for River Plate. His nomination gives the Argentinian club their first ever nomination for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award.
All completing stellar and impressive years of football, here is the full list of the 14 nominated players:
- Karim Benzema – Real Madrid / France
- Kylian Mbappe – PSG / France
- Lionel Messi – PSG / Argentina
- Julian Alvarez – River Plate / Manchester City / Argentina
- Jude Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund / England
- Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City / Belgium
- Erling Haaland – Borussia Dortmund / Manchester City / Norway
- Achraf Hakimi – PSG / Morocco
- Vinicius Junior – Real Madrid / Brazil
- Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich / Barcelona / Poland
- Sadio Mane – Liverpool / Bayern Munich / Senegal
- Luka Modric – Real Madrid / Croatia
- Neymar – PSG / Brazil
- Mohamed Salah – Liverpool / Egypt
The Final Three
Revealed on the 10th of February 2023, the 14 nominees were cut into 3 finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2022. Real Madrid’s serial goal scorer Karim Benzema, France’s wonderkid Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s G.O.A.T Lionel Messi are the three finalists for FIFA’s most glorified award. All three magnificent forwards each have had a phenomenal 2022, but what is each of their say for the prize?
Karim Benzema’s Say
At the ripe old age of 35, Karim Benzema’s latter stage of 2021 and all of 2022 was arguably the best calendar year in his career. Unleashed from the shackles of hiding behind all time greats like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema’s lethal eye in front of goal was on display as he was finally the main man for Real Madrid. Scoring a career best 27 goals in the 2021/22 La Liga season and delivering another career best 12 assists fueled Los Blancos’ 35th La Liga title winning season. Along with domestic success Karim Benzema captained Real to their 14th Champions League title, scoring 15 goals in the 2021/22 edition of the European tournament. The midweek competition saw Benzema perform at his best with hattricks against PSG in the Round of 16, Chelsea in the Quarter Finals and a brace against Manchester City in the Semi-Finals. Despite missing out on the FIFA World Cup due to injury, Benzema’s 2022 was a year to remember and winning The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award of 2022 would cap it off perfectly.
Lionel Messi’s Say
Once a player competes consistently at the absolute top level for 15+ seasons, the standards that they are held by are raised much higher. Despite a slow start to life at PSG, where Messi only got 20 goal involvements in the Ligue 1 (yes, *only*), the Argentinian maestro still managed to win a domestic double for The Parisians. A disappointing Champions League exit in the Round of 16 saw Messi’s first full season at PSG be slightly underwhelming by his standards, but the beauty of Messi’s 2022 lies in the Qatar World Cup. Scoring 7 goals and providing 3 assists for La Albiceleste, Lionel Messi’s 2022 World Cup performance will live on in history. Cementing his name further in the history books (as if it needed to be cemented more), Messi claimed new records as he broke Lothar Matthaus’s record for most World Cup appearances with 26, holds the record of 19 appearances as captain, is the only ever player to register an assist in 5 world cups and is the only player to score in his teens, 20s and 30s in the World Cup. Perhaps the most impressive of all, is Messi became the only ever player to receive two World Cup Golden Balls, awarded to the best player at the given World Cup. Regardless of if Messi wins this award, the man’s trophy cabinet is stacked and he will forever be admired as one of the best to ever do it.
Kylian Mbappe’s Say
Whilst Mbappe’s domestic success is identical to Leo Messi given their time spent together at PSG, it could be argued that Mbappe’s contribution was far greater than Leo Messi’s. Scoring 28 goals and registering 17 assists in the league, Mbappe received the Ligue 1 Player of the Year for his efforts in the 2021/22 season. Even with 45 league goal contributions and another 6 UCL goals, the World Cup was also a shining part of Kylian Mbappe’s 2022. At the young age of 24 years old, Mbappe firmly placed his name into the discussion for potential bests of all time by nearly leading Les Bleus to a second consecutive World Cup victory. Scoring a hattrick in the World Cup Final, becoming only the second player to ever do it, and winning the Golden Boot has increased Mbappe’s all time World Cup goal tally to 12. Already at the same amount as Pele, and 4 away from Miroslav Klose’s record! The sky is truly the limit for the boy from Paris and there is no doubt that The Best FIFA Men’s Player will be awarded to Kylian Mbappe at some point in his career.
Finalists for all of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022
Whilst The Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2022 will be in the foreground for the night in Paris, it is of quintessential significance to equally admire and praise the other award recipients for their efforts and accomplishments.
The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper: The finalists for this award are Yassin Bounou of Sevilla and Morocco, Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid and Belgium and Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa and Argentina. The Belgian’s success with Real Madrid will propel his case for the goal keeping award, whereas Bounou and Martinez’s world cup heroics will be highlighted when they share their separate cases to win the 6th edition of The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper.
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach: The three managers who can win the 2022 edition of this award are: Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Lionel Scaloni. With Real Madrid overall brilliance last season, Manchester City winning the Premier League with an admirable 93 points and Scaloni bringing La Albiceleste their third ever World Cup trophy, all three managers will be eager to be crowned The Best FIFA Men’s Coach for their first time.
The Best FIFA Women’s Player: Revealed on the 10th of February 2023, the final 3 for the best woman footballer of 2022 are England’s Beth Mead, the United States’ Alex Morgan and Spain’s Alexia Putellas. Beth Mead’s incredible run with The Lionesses during the latter stages of 2021 and all of 2022 saw her help England to their first ever UEFA Women’s Championship trophy, as she was tied for top goal scorer in the tournament and won the tournament’s best player award. Although FC Barcelona Femeni lost in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final, Putellas lead the spanish outlet to a blistering title winning season in La Liga F, with Barcelona finishing 23 points ahead of second place Real Sociedad. Along with this, the Spaniard was the top goalscorer in the UEFA Women’s Champions League with 11 goals, and was awarded the tournament’s best player award. Finally, despite her lack of form since the United States’ World Cup win in 2019, 33 year old Alex Morgan burst back onto the scene with an impressive 16 goals in 19 games for the San Diego Wave in the 2022 National Women’s Soccer League.
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper: The final three for the 4th awarding of The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper are: Ann-Katrin Berger of Chelsea and Germany, Mary Earps of Manchester United and England and Christiane Endler of Lyon and Chile. The Chilean goalkeeper will be looking to be the first consecutive winner of this illustrious award, as her goalkeeping expertise helped Lyon to their 8th UEFA Women’s Champions League title. Mary Earps stood in between the sticks for all 6 of England’s games in the UEFA Women’s Euro, winning the tournament for the first time with 4 clean sheets along the way. The 2021/22 Women’s Super League saw Chelsea Women win by the tightest of margins as they came first in the league with one more point than Arsenal Women. Keeping 8 clean sheets and having a save percentage of 75.8%, Chelsea’s 32 year old German keeper earns her spot in this final 3.
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach: The three eligible coaches to win this award are: Sonia Bompastor, Pia Sundhage and Sarina Wiegman. Bompastor will look to be only the second ever domestic club manager to win the award, as her Lyon managed to win both the UEFA Women’s Champions League and the women’s top flight competition in France. Having being nominated for the first time since 2016, Swedish boss Pia Sundhage will look to win the award as she managed the Brazilian Women’s National Side. Quite astonishingly, Sundhage’s Brazil won the 2022 Copa America Femenina by scoring 20 goals in 6 games and conceding a grand total of 0 goals in the tournament! Finally, Dutch managerial superstar Sarina Wiegman looks to be awarded this honour for the third time as she coached The Lionesses to their first ever euros win.
FIFA Puskas Award: Richarlison’s overhead strike against Serbia in the 2022 Qatar World Cup sees him be nominated for his first ever FIFA Puskas Award. Dimitri Payet’s bullet strike from a training ground corner routine could see the Marseille club captain become the first Frenchman to win the award. Perhaps the most impressive of all, is Polish player Marcin Olesky who looks to become the first ever amputee footballer to win the award. The stunning bicycle kick scored in the PZU Amp Futbol Ekstraklasa could further promote amputee football and firmly place it on the sports map worldwide.
FIFA Fan Award: Given 2022 was a World Cup year, the 2022 Qatar World Cup provided three brilliant nominees for the FIFA Fan Award. Saudi Arabian Abdullah Al Salmi’s hike of 1600km across the Arabian dessert from Jeddah to Qatar to support his home nation has been formerly recognized by FIFA with this nomination. The Japanese fans tradition of staying behind following the Japan’s national teams games at the 2022 Qatar World Cup grabbed international headlines, as the pure kindest and generosity of these fans became a global sign of compassion for football worldwide. The relentless support and celebration of their third World Cup trophy sees the Argentinian fans being named as the 3rd finalist for the FIFA Fan Award.
Your Prediction!
Ultimately, the annual FIFA football awards are an international celebration for the efforts of all footballers worldwide. FIFA’s various awards not only include the best of the best for the men’s competition, but attempt to promote diversity and respect for all those who play football. By recognizing the best male and female athletes, along with coaches and even the fans, The Best FIFA Football Awards becomes an international exclamation of the world’s love and passion for ‘The Beautiful Game’.
Who do you think will win the best player awards for The Best FIFA Football Awards?
