Disappointing in the second half of the 2022/2023 season at PSG, but Lionel Messi still entered the top 3 of the UEFA Player of the Year nominations.

Messi entered UEFA’s shortlist despite leaving Europe

On the evening of August 17, the European Football Federation (UEFA) announced a shortlist of 3 nominations for the Best Player award in 2023. Lionel Messi suddenly appeared alongside two stars of Man City, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland.

Following the end of the 2022/2023 season, UEFA established a technical committee to draw up a list of candidates based on their performances at both club and national team levels. Then, UEFA sends this list to the coaches of the clubs that have participated in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League and the coaches of European national teams to vote. In addition, a group of journalists selected by European Sports Media (ESM) are also members of the jury.

Coaches and journalists were asked to choose their top three players from UEFA’s shortlist of nominations. The order 1, 2, 3 will help the players collect the corresponding points of 5, 3, and 1 point respectively. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their team’s players.

After the aforementioned voting process, the three stars with the most points were determined to be Lionel Messi, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland. The winner of the highest score – which means the UEFA Player of the Year award will be announced at the draw for the 2023/2024 Champions League grouping on August 31 in Monaco.

The appearance of Messi caused great controversy in the graveyard world. Despite shining brightly to help Argentina win the 2022 World Cup at the end of last year, Messi was almost “disappeared” at PSG for the next half year. His decline in form is part of the reason why PSG were eliminated early in the Champions League and struggled to win the Ligue 1 title. Currently, the 36-year-old Argentine striker has also left PSG to come to the US to play for Inter Miami. .

Meanwhile, two other stars with important contributions to Man City’s historic treble, Gundogan and Rodri, are only 4th and 5th. Kylian Mbappe even ranks 6th despite being the top scorer of the World Cup 2022 and conquer a series of other scoring records.