Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe were among the contenders for the 2023 FIFA Best Men’s Player award, but a familiar name did not appear.

Recently, FIFA announced the nominations for the 2023 FIFA Best Male Player award, in which three indispensable names are Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.

Messi is the holder of the most prestigious individual award given by FIFA last year. He continued to be nominated and became a bright candidate this year after helping Argentina win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Haaland is also a candidate after scoring 52 goals, helping Manchester City win a historic treble in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the 2022-23 season. Paris Saint-Germain superstar Mbappe scored a hat-trick for France in the World Cup final and remains a model of stability at club level.

Declan Rice – who led West Ham to win the Europa Conference League championship last season is also in the nomination. Rice is also the only English player named on the list.A series of Man City stars including Kevin De Bruyne, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva are on the shortlist. Rodri, with the winning goal in the 2023 Champions League final, and former captain Ilkay Gundogan also enrolled in this prestigious nomination.

The list does not include Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. He was also eliminated from the Ballon d’Or race in 2023. Ronaldo won his first FIFA Best award in 2016, then in 2017, but has not been in the top 3 shortlisted nominations since 2020.

In addition, in the best male coach of the year category, new Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou was nominated along with Pep Guardiola, Simone Inzaghi, Luciano Spalletti and Xavi.

Champions League final goalkeepers Ederson and Andre Onana will compete for the Best Men’s Goalkeeper award, alongside Thibaut Courtois, Yassine Bounou and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.