Lionel Messi won the Best FIFA Men’s Player award in Paris on Monday night. The 35-year-old Argentinian is therefore the successor to Robert Lewandowski, who was honored in the previous two editions.
Messi beat Karim Benzema and teammate Kylian Mbappé in the election. The left leg seems to owe his trophy mainly to his performance at the World Cup in Qatar. With seven goals and three assists, he led Argentina to the coveted final win. In Doha he was also voted Player of the Tournament. With PSG, Messi also won the national title and the French Super Cup last year.
Now Messi also wins the prestigious FIFA award for his achievements in 2022. Since 2016, this election has been disconnected from the Ballon d’Or. It was already awarded to Benzema before the World Cup. Messi wins the FIFA award for the second time, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lewandowski did before.
The figures released by FIFA show that Messi has won by a street length. Mbappé came second in the election, Benzema came third.
The Best FIFA Men’s Player nominees
| Rank | Player | Club(s) played for | National team | Points |
| The finalists | ||||
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Paris Saint-Germain | Argentina | 52 |
| 2 | Kylian Mbappé | Paris Saint-Germain | France | 44 |
| 3 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | France | 34 |
| Other candidates | ||||
| 4 | Luka Modrić | Real Madrid | Croatia | 28 |
| 5 | Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City |
Norway | 24 |
| 6 | Sadio Mané | Liverpool
Bayern Munich |
Senegal | 19 |
| 7 | Julián Álvarez | River Plate
Manchester City |
Argentina | 17 |
| 8 | Achraf Hakimi | Paris Saint-Germain | Morocco | 15 |
| 9 | Neymar | Paris Saint-Germain | Brazil | 13 |
| 10 | Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City | Belgium | 10 |
| 11 | Vinícius Júnior | Real Madrid | Brazil | 10 |
| 12 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich
Barcelona |
Poland | 7 |
| 13 | Jude Bellingham | Borussia Dortmund | England | 3 |
| 14 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | Egypt | 2 |
Previous winners of The Best FIFA Men’s Player
| Year | Rank | Player | Team | Votes |
| 2016 | 1st | Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo | Spain Real Madrid | 34.54% |
| 2017 | 1st | Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo | Spain Real Madrid | 43.16% |
| 2018 | 1st | Croatia Luka Modrić | Spain Real Madrid | 29.05% |
| 2019 | 1st | Argentina Lionel Messi | Spain Barcelona | 46% |
| 2020 | 1st | Poland Robert Lewandowski | Germany Bayern Munich | 52% |
| 2021 | 1st | Poland Robert Lewandowski | Germany Bayern Munich | 48% |
| 2022 | 1st | Argentina Lionel Messi | France Paris Saint-Germain | 52% |
