THE BEST AWARDS
Why wasn’t Cristiano Ronaldo nominated for the Best FIFA Football Awards? How many goals did he score in 2023?
Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland are the finalists for the Best Men’s Player Award, despite Ronaldo’s goalscoring exploits with Al Nassr.
The Best FIFA Football Awards are almost upon us, with Inter Miami star Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé the three finalists for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award. For the third year running, there is no place for the man finished 2023 as the top goalscorer worldwide, Cristiano Ronaldo.
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How many times has Ronaldo won Best FIFA Men’s Player?
The Portuguese icon won the first two Best FIFA Men’s Player awards in 2016 and 2017, pipping Messi to the prize on both occasions. However, he has missed out on the final shortlist for a third time in succession and wasn’t even on the initial list of nominees for the second year in a row.
The 38-year-old is one of three men to have picked up the gong on two occasions, along with Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski and Messi, who now has the chance to become the most decorated men’s player in the history of the Best FIFA Football Awards.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s incredible 2023
Ronaldo has been snubbed despite performing superbly in 2023 for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr, with his move away from elite-level soccer presumably the reason for his omission rather than his on-field achievements. The former Real Madrid attacker outscored everyone else in world soccer with 54 goals, two more than Mbappé and four better than Haaland, who won the Premier League-Champions League-FA Cup treble with City.
The Portugal captain picked up silverware of his own, however, leading Al Nassr to their first ever Arab Club Champions Cup victory by scoring two decisive goals in the final against Saudi Arabian rivals Al Hilal, who signed Neymar days after the match.
On a personal level, that was Ronaldo’s first trophy since 19 May 2021, when he won the Coppa Italia towards the end of his time with Juventus and before moving back to Manchester United.
FIFA doesn’t recognise Arab Club Champions Cup as major competition
For the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award, performances between 19 December 2022, the day after the 2022 World Cup final, and 20 August 2023 were taken into account, although world soccer’s governing body doesn’t recognise the Arab Club Champions Cup as is a major competition.
Ronaldo is, on the other hand, in contention for a place in FIFPro Men’s World 11 for 2023, and received an honorary award from FIFA in 2022 for being the all-time top goalscorer in men’s international soccer.
We at AS USA will keep you across all the action as it happens with our live-text commentary of the ceremony.