The recent Al-Nassr signing did not feature in FIFA's list of 14 players who are up for the award, which takes a look back at the best performers from the previous calendar year.
2022 witnessed a number of memorable moments at club and international levels. From Bayern's record 10th straight Bundesliga and Erling Haaland's rampant start to life in England, to Senegal's first Africa Cup of Nations triumph and a first final-four World Cup finish for an African side with Morocco in Qatar.
A year of fine footballing action closed with Lionel Messi finally getting his hands on the World Cup trophy, but will that be enough for the Argentine to win FIFA's esteemed individual award?
From the list of candidates to how and when the winner is decided, GOAL takes you through all there is to know. And you can read up on all of the other awards and nominees here.
Who are the 2022 FIFA Best Men's Player Award nominees?
The list of 14 candidates for the 2022 award includes a mixture of familiar faces and relative newcomers.
Messi and Mbappe feature alongside Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema, while there are inclusions for youngsters Jude Bellingham and Achraf Hakimi.
While Ronaldo is a notable omission from the list, perhaps the most surprising inclusion is Manchester City's Julian Alvarez, who dazzled in Qatar but only joined the English giants over half-way through the calendar year.
The full list of the 2022 FIFA best men's player award nominees is as follows:
| Player | Club |
|---|---|
| Julian Alvarez | River Plate/Manchester City |
| Jude Bellingham | Borussia Dortmund |
| Karim Benzema | Real Madrid |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City |
| Erling Haaland | Borussia Dortmund/Manchester City |
| Achraf Hakimi | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich/Barcelona |
| Sadio Mane | Liverpool/Bayern Munich |
| Kylian Mbappe | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Lionel Messi | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Luka Modric | Real Madrid |
| Neymar | Paris Saint-Germain |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool |
| Vinicius Junior | Real Madrid |
How is the 2022 FIFA Best Men's Player award decided?
The final shortlist of players are selected by FIFA based on sporting performance - both at team and individual level - as well as general conduct on and off the pitch.
Of those nominees, votes are then decided by media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains and, since October 2016, the general public.
Each group gets 25% of the vote, before a winner is announced from votes cast from those four sections.
How to vote for 2022 FIFA Best Men's Player award
In order to be able to vote, fans must be registered on FIFA's website. Once registered, FIFA members are allowed to vote for their top three selections in the men's player category.
FIFA's website includs each candidate, their individual and team accolades, and numbers 1, 2 and 3 underneath. No.1 will be considered as top choice, No.2 second choice and No.3 third choice.
Users then have to click 'Submit your vote' at the bottom of the page and the vote will be counted.
When will 2022 FIFA best men's player award results be announced?
The awards of all categories, including the men's player, will be revealed at The Best FIFA Football Awards on February 27, 2023.