As 2023 comes to an end, the major awards in football have also begun their annual selections. One of the more important awards is the long-awaited World Footballer. As FIFA's year-end award, the World Footballer pays more attention to the players' team honors, which is also the difference between them and the Ballon d'Or.
But Messi is still the favorite to win the award, because Messi holds the Ligue 1 championship this year. He also led Inter Miami to win the first championship trophy in team history, turning a team at the bottom of the league into the cup champion. This gold content is still quite high. Moreover, Messi's performance in the national team and club this year has been perfect, so it is normal to be selected as the three candidates. Messi has won the award 7 times in his career, which is also the first in history. It can be said that it does not matter to Messi whether he wins the award or not.
On the other side, two super talents, Mbappe and Haaland, have also become candidates this time. In terms of goal statistics, Haaland is actually better. With 50 goals in the year, he is also among the top three in football. In terms of championship honors, the Triple Crown following Manchester City is also quite convincing. Mbappe's only honor is the French Ligue 1 championship, which is still a bit short, but considering this is Messi's last World Footballer selection. Haaland and Mbappe are likely to accompany him again.
