Messi tops list of nominees for The Best award

Havana, December 26 (RHC)-- The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) reported that Argentina's Lionel Messi tops the list of nominees for The Best Award, scheduled for February 27, 2023.

In a report issued Sunday, FIFA noted that the results of the Qatar 2022 World Cup could benefit some of the nominees who contributed to the results of their teams.

In this regard, the soccer entity added that Frenchman Kylian Mbappé also relaunched his candidacy for the highest trophy in the world cup.

It is surely Messi and Mbappé who have enhanced their reputations the most thanks to the World Cup, both of whom rose spectacularly to the occasion. It would be a bold prediction to say that neither will win the award, the report said.

According to the report, another who could climb the ranks is Croatia's Luka Modric, who not only added a fifth Champions League title and a third La Liga title with Spain's Real Madrid, but also a bronze medal at the World Cup.

On the Men's Coach award, the Federation said that champion Lionel Scaloni, runner-up Didier Deschamps and Walid Regragui, who led Morocco to the best-ever result by an African team, should be among the favorites.

As for goalkeepers, FIFA said Croatia's Dominik Livakovic and Argentina's Emiliano Martinez had the tournament of their lives.

This year's The Best is expected to be quite different from the traditional Ballon d'Or, which was awarded at the end of the season and was won by Madrid's Karim Benzema (player), Carlo Ancelotti (coach) and Thibaut Courtois (goalkeeper).

The fundamental reason is that the award of the French magazine France Football did not take into account the results of the calendar year, as The Best does.