The Best FIFA Men’s Player: Nominees in focus

• Fourteen stars have been nominated for The Best FIFA Men's Player prize

• Winner will be announced at an awards ceremony

• Robert Lewandowski won second straight title last year

Looking through the 14 nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award is like a who's who of the top footballing talent in the world – many of them fresh off showcasing their talents at the FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar. It's a prolonged period of excellence that will be rewarded this time around, as not only is the entire 2021/22 season taken into account, but also the World Cup as well, with the award recognising achievements from 8 August 2021 to 18 December 2022.

Voting for the award opens on 12 January and runs until 3 February, with the winner being announced at The Best FIFA Football Awards™ ceremony on 27 February.

And just in case you'd forgotten, here's a rundown of the world footballing stars in the running, and just what they've achieved to be nominated for this prestigious award.

He doesn’t turn 23 until the last day of January, but nothing seems to trouble Alvarez as he first took to life at Manchester City swimmingly before scoring four goals when helping Argentina to World Cup glory. Known as 'The Spider' his furious pressing and dead-eye finishing saw him prove to be a perfect foil for Lionel Messi in Qatar.

Did you know? Before his move to City, Alvarez scored six goals for River Plate in an 8-1 Copa Libertadores thrashing of Alianza Lima.

At just 19, Bellingham showed himself to be one of the leaders of Gareth Southgate’s England side in Qatar with his driving performances in midfield, making him one of the hottest properties in Europe. He became England’s second-youngest scorer at a World Cup and also led Borussia Dortmund to a runners-up finish in the Bundesliga. He’s got a rare mix of physical, technical and tactical ability, but perhaps most impressive is the old head he has on young shoulders.

Did you know? Bellingham was Birmingham’s youngest ever first-team player when he made his senior debut, and they retired his No22 shirt after he joined Dortmund despite him making just 41 league appearances.

What a season 2021/22 was for the striker. He was phenomenal for Real Madrid and one of very few World Cup disappointments was that Benzema’s injury kept him out of Qatar 2022.

Did you know? Part of a large family, Benzema has five sisters and two brothers, and he’s also had a film made about his life. Titled Le K Benzema, the film was directed by Florent Bodin and Damien Piscarel and released in 2017.

Another season and another Premier League title for Manchester City that had an awful lot to do with De Bruyne’s form, with the Belgian contributing 15 league goals and eight assists, and playing particularly well in the run-in to help pip Liverpool.

He’s made excellence seem normal for him and was named Premier League Player of the Season and included in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League Team of the Season. He’s started off this campaign even better in terms of supplying goals, mainly to Erling Haaland, with an incredible 15 assists for City before the World Cup break.

Did you know? De Bruyne is one of seven players to have won two PFA Players' Player of the Year awards in England, and one of just three to win the award in back-to-back years after Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Just one word comes to mind when you think of Erling Haaland: goals. He’s scored them everywhere he’s been and if there were even the slightest of doubt about his quality then his transfer to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund showed he can operate at the very highest level. Twenty-one goals in his first 16 league games showed that he could well go on to break records before he’s done.

Did you know? Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to score three consecutive hat-tricks in home league games.

Paris Saint-Germain right-back Hakimi has been a star for club and country, but it’s for the Atlas Lions that he’ll be remembered most after helping them to an incredible fourth-place finish at Qatar 2022. Named in the 2021 CAF Africa Cup of Nations Best XI, you’ll go a long way to find a full-back who has as much pace, skill and technique going forward as he has defending.

Did you know? Hakimi has won the Best Moroccan Player Abroad award for the last two seasons.

What a season with Real Madrid it was for Vinicius Junior, cleaning up domestically and also scoring the only goal against Liverpool in the Champions League final. He was unsurprisingly included in the Champions League Team of the Season and was also awarded the Young Player of the Season in Europe’s premier competition. And still only 22, there’s plenty more to come from the Brazilian.

Did you know? Vinicius made his debut for Flamengo in 2017 aged just 16, and only a few weeks later he had been signed by Real Madrid, enentually joining the club on his 18th birthday.

The prolific Polish striker is looking for a third consecutive award after another Bayern Munich season packed with goals. He ended it by leaving for Barcelona. He won the Bundesliga again with Bayern and was not only top scorer in Germany, but also in Europe with his second Golden Shoe award. He missed a penalty in Qatar, but still managed to score his first World Cup goals in the tournament.

Did you know? Lewandowski became Bayern Munich’s record sale and also the most expensive Polish player of all time when he joined Barcelona for €45m.

Mane won everything with Liverpool, including a domestic cup double, and just missed out on a second Champions League before moving to Bayern Munich to face a new challenge. For Senegal he’s also been outstanding, scoring the winning penalty as they won the Africa Cup of Nations and also helping them qualify for the World Cup. He sadly missed the tournament through injury, however. He was named the African Footballer of the Year and also Man of the Tournament at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.

Did you know? Mane holds the record for the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history, scoring his treble for Southampton against Aston Villa in 2015 in just two minutes and 56 seconds.

It’s easy to forget that Mbappe has only just turned 24 with all he’s achieved in the game, as he claimed the World Cup Golden Boot after France lost out on penalties to Argentina in the Qatar 2022 final. He’s already won the World Cup once though to go along with a plethora of goalscoring records and awards and a regular spot in the Champions League Team of the Season.

Did you know? A World Cup specialist, Mbappe has scored 12 goals and has two assists from the 12 games he’s started for France in the tournament, with Les Bleus drawing and losing the two other games where he’s come on as a sub. France have never lost in 90 minutes when he’s started, winning 11 of 12 with the extra-time defeat to Argentina in the Qatar 2022 final the only loss.

What more can you say about Messi? He not only completed the set when he led Argentina to the World Cup, but he led them in style, scoring seven goals and winning the adidas Golden Ball.

He became Argentina’s all-time top scorer in the competition and broke the World Cup appearance record for good measure. Having won everything else down the years his special display in Qatar was the icing on the cake for the man who rightly holds a place among the game’s all-time greats.

Did you know? Messi owns so many records in football, but showing just how good he was at Barcelona, he’s not only scored the most goals in La Liga history (474) but he’s also got the most assists ever in the Spanish top flight (192).

Not many gave Modric or Croatia a chance in Qatar, but behind one of the smoothest midfield operators in the world they again defied the odds by finishing third. He was still sublime for Real Madrid too in their Champions League victory, and made the Team of the Season in that competition with more of his tremendous midfield performances.

Did you know? Modric won this award in 2018 after leading Croatia to the World Cup final, breaking the 10-year dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

A stunning goal at the World Cup showed what Neymar is all about, but it was not enough to drag Brazil past Croatia, to whom they lost on penalties. The Brazilian helped PSG to another league title but the World Cup will have been a big disappointment. He’ll be looking to help the French side win the Champions League to make up for it.

Did you know? Neymar has scored 100 goals for three different clubs: Santos, Barcelona and PSG.

The Egyptian just keeps on quietly banging in the goals for Liverpool, with another big haul last season almost helping the Reds to win all four competitions.

Salah won the Golden Boot again in the Premier League and was again recognised for his achievements by being named PFA Player of the Year for a second time and also adding the Football Writers’ award as well.

Did you know? Salah has finished third in this award twice, and also claimed the FIFA Puskás Award for 2018 for his goal in the Merseyside derby against Everton.

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