FIFA announced this year’s finalists for their prestigious Best FIFA Men’s Player award, delivering a massive surprise to soccer fans. Barcelona’s star Lionel Messi has failed to make the final cut for the first time since 2006. Instead, Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, or Mohamed Salah will be named the world’s best at the awards ceremony that will take place in London on September 24th.
Finalists: #TheBest FIFA Men's Player Award 🏆
🇵🇹 @Cristiano
🇭🇷 @lukamodric10
🇪🇬 @MoSalah#FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/L1ckRiZTv6
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) September 3, 2018
Previous ten Best FIFA Men’s Player award ceremonies saw Messi and Ronaldo taking honors between themselves, with each one winning five awards.
Numerous analysts believe that Lionel Messi deserved the nod this year as well, due to his stellar performance in 2017-18. With his help, Barcelona won the La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Spanish Super Cup while Messi took home the European Golden Shoe, an award given to the best goal scorer on the continent. Despite these achievements, Messi’s failure in UEFA Champions League and on 2018 World Cup with Argentina ultimately got him out of the contention for world’s best soccer player this year.
On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo also didn’t do much at the World Cup, but he managed to win his third straight Champions League trophy with Real Madrid and was the tournament’s top scorer.
Ronaldo’s teammate Luka Modric was also a big reason for Real’s success while putting on some exceptional performance with Croatian at the World Cup and winning the Golden Ball as the best player.
Finally, Mohamed Salah also made a firm case for himself by being the best player in the English Premier League. Salah became the first player to score 32 goals in a 38-game season in England while propelling Liverpool to Champions League finals with 10 goals.
