World champion Lionel Messi could once again cause disappointment in France in the FIFA World Player election.
In addition to the 35-year-old, the French Kylian Mbappé (both Paris St.Germain) and Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) are on the final ballot. The world association announced the result of the public vote on Friday.
With the victory in the World Cup final (4:2 in UE), Messi’s Argentines had already caused a bitter disappointment for Mbappé’s French, who, however, had started without their world footballer Benzema due to injury. German professionals had not made it into the preselection of FIFA.
In the case of women, too, the decision is made without German participation. In addition to English European champion Beth Mead, US star Alex Morgan and Spain’s Alexia Putellas were nominated. The vice European champions Lena Oberdorf and Alexandra Popp from VfL Wolfsburg had been in the preselection, but did not receive the required number of votes.
The finalists for the Puskas Prize, which awards the most beautiful goal each year, are Marcin Oleksy of Poland for his goal in the Polish league, Dimitri Payet of France with a goal in the Conference League and Brazilian Richarlison for his dream goal in the World Cup group stage match against Serbia. The winners will be announced on February 27th in Paris.
All finalists at a glance:
FIFA World Players: Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid) Kylian Mbappé (France) Lionel Messi (Argentina/ both Paris St. Germain)
FIFA World Player: Alexia Putellas (Spain/Barcelona), Beth Mead (England/Arsenal), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave)
FIFA Puskas Prize: Marcin Oleksy (Poland): Warta Poznan – Stal Rzeszow (Ekstraklasa), Dimitri Payet (France): Olympique Marseille – PAOK Thessaloniki (UEFA Conference League), Richarlison (Brazil): Brazil – Serbia (FIFA World Cup)