On Thursday, FIFA announced the list of three candidates for the 2023 World Footballer of the Year, and Messi, Haaland, and Mbappe were successfully selected. However, Messi's selection has sparked some controversy, in part because of FIFA's selection rules.
Since the 2022 World Cup takes place in December, in the 2022 selection, the date ends on December 18, 2022, so the selection date for 2023 is from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023. This means that Messi's World Cup win and his North American League Cup win after joining Inter Miami will not be taken into account.
During this time, Messi only won the Ligue 1 championship, was selected for the best team in Ligue 1, and became the top scorer in the five major leagues, compared with Haaland, who won the treble and won the Premier League and the Champions League Golden Boot, and Mbappe, who won the Ligue 1 championship, the Golden Boot, and the best player of the season, Messi is obviously inferior.
Compared to Messi, Rodri is more qualified to qualify for the top three. During this time, Rodri, who was the core of Manchester City's midfield, won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble, scored the winning goal in the Champions League final, and was elected the best player in the Champions League and the best player in the Champions League final.
At the same time, Rodri, who is the core of Spain's midfield, won the UEFA Nations League championship and was elected the best player in the UEFA Nations League. Rodri has missed four games this season, with Manchester City losing to Wolves, Arsenal, Villa and Newcastle (Carabao Cup) and Rodri's importance is evident.
Rodri's strength is obviously not comparable to Messi, but according to FIFA's selection rules, Rodri's performance in these 244 days has clearly surpassed Messi. Even if he doesn't get the World Footballer of the Year, then he should at least be in the top three.