The list of candidates shortlisted for The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 has been revealed. Two expert panels – one for women’s football and one for men’s football – selected the candidates for the players’, goalkeepers’, and coaches’ categories.
The Best FIFA football awards 2022 will be presented on February 27, 2023. Fans can also watch the awards ceremony on FIFA’s official YouTube channel.
Public voting for the winners can be done on FIFA+ and is open until February 3.
Argentinian players are featured heavily in shortlists for FIFA’s Best awards following their World Cup triumph. Out of the different award categories, several people have their eyes on the FIFA Best Men’s Player 2022 Award nominees.
There are 14 nominees listed in the category and has a mix of familiar faces and rising stars
1. Julian Alvarez (River Plate/Manchester City)
Julián Álvarez is an Argentine professional footballer who stood out in the 2022 World Cup for his assists and goals. As a player, he is known for his pressing, dynamic scoring ability, and link-up play. He is nicknamed La Araña (“The Spider”) and in the current season (2022/2023), he scored 31 goals.
2. Jude Bellingham(Borussia Dortmund)
The 19-year-old midfielder is a rising star for his team. He has become a key player for Dortmund and was one of the standout players of any age group at the World Cup, helping England reach the quarter-final stage.
3. Karim Benzema(Real Madrid)
The French captain of the La Liga club Real Madrid is known as one of the best strikers of all time. He is also Real Madrid’s all-time second-highest goalscorer and top assist provider. In the 2022/2023 season, he scored 8 times after 17 match days in the season 2022/2023. This makes him the number 3 scorer in La Liga so far.
4. Kevin De Bruyne(Manchester City)
Kevin De Bruyne is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world and has made many achievements over the years. So far in his Premier League career, De Bruyne has played 224 games in the competition, with 60 goals scored and 95 assists.
5. Erling Haaland(Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City)
Erling Braut Haaland is a Norwegian professional footballer known for his speed, strength, and finishing. The Borussia Dortmund forward was previously among the 11 nominees for the 2021 FIFA World Player of the Year award. In the 2022/2023 season, he scored 21 times after 20 match days. This makes him the number 1 scorer in the Premier League so far.
6. Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Achraf Hakimi a.k.a. Achraf Hakimi Mouh, is a professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Morocco national team. Hakimi is known as one of the best right-backs in world football. He has 2 assists after 19 match days in the season 2022/2023.
7. Robert Lewandowski(Bayern Munich/Barcelona)
Robert Lewandowski is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Barcelona and captains the Poland national team. He is recognised for his positioning, technique and finishing and has scored over 500 senior career goals for club and country.
8. Sadio Mane(Liverpool/Bayern Munich)
Sadio Mané is a Senegalese professional footballer known for his pressing, dribbling, and speed. Bane is recognized as one of the greatest African players of all time and has registered 34 goals in 93 appearances for Senegal since his debut in 2012. Last year, he scored 11 goals after 23 competitive matches for Bayern.
9. Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain)
Kylian Mbappe is another well-known name next to Kylian Mbappe. He is a French professional footballer renowned for his dribbling abilities, exceptional speed, and finishing. In the 2022 World Cup, Mbappe secured the tournament’s Golden Boot with eight goals and became the sixth all-time top goalscorer in World Cup history with twelve goals, tied with Pelé.
10. Lionel Messi(Paris Saint-Germain)
Lionel Messi is known as a star player for the Argentina team. He is also known as one of the top soccer players. In the past years, Messi scored a total of 796 goals in 1,023 games. In the 2021-22 season, he scored 11 goals in 34 games and so far, he has scored 13 goals in 20 games for the 2022-23 season.
11. Neymar(Paris Saint-Germain)
Neymar is one of many prominent names in the soccer community. He is known as a prolific goalscorer and renowned playmaker. Currently, he has 433 goals in 702 games. During the 2022 World Cup, he scored 77 goals. In the 2022-23 season, he has scored 11 goals in 17 matches so far in the Ligue 1.
Best Women’s Player 2022
For the Best Women’s Player 2022 Award, there are several of England’s Euro 2022-winning stars in the running. These include Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas and Lyon’s Ada Hegerberg.
Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2022
As for the Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2022 award, World Cup-winning Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni is going against heavy hitters such as Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti.
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2022
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2022 nominees also have five nominees. Among the nominees is Sarina Wiegman. Sarina Wiegman earned a nomination for The Best Women’s Coach award 2022 after guiding England to European Championship glory last summer. Other names on the list include Chelsea boss Emma Hayes and Lyon’s head coach Sonia Bompastor.
The Best Goalkeepers 2022
There are five players nominated for The Best Men’s Goalkeeper 2022 award. They are Alisson, Yassine Bounou, Thibaut Courtois, Ederson and Emiliano Martinez.
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper 2022 Award, on the other hand, has six nominees. Included in the list are Chelsea shot-stopper Ann-Katrin Berger and Manchester United’s Mary Earps.
FIFA Puskas 2022 Award
As for the FIFA Puskas 2022 Award, there are 11 nominees listed. This award is given to the player who is deemed to have scored the best or most beautiful goal. Some of the most beautiful goals added to this list are Kylian Mbappe’s volley against Argentina in the World Cup final and Alessia Russo’s strike against Sweden in the Euro 2022 semi-final.
For fans to vote for their favourite nominees, they must be registered on FIFA’s website. Once registered, FIFA members are allowed to vote for their top three selections.
FIFA’s website includes each candidate, their individual and team accolades, and numbers 1, 2, and 3 underneath. No.1 will be considered the top choice, No.2 the second choice, and No.3 the third choice. Once users have made their choices, they simply have to submit their votes, and they will be counted.
