The 2023 Ballon d'Or top three - Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi - are set to slug it out for FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year.
Originally, 12 players were shortlisted for the award with Manchester City stars Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva all making the cut.
FIFA's Best awards honour the most outstanding performers across the men's and women's game, running from December 19, 2022, to August 20, 2023.
The winner will be discovered at a ceremony in London on January 15, 2024.
Messi won FIFA's Best in 2022 after leading Argentina to World Cup glory, and he again finds himself in the mix at the age of 36 after transforming the fortunes of Inter Miami in MLS.
Even with Messi's greatness he has his work cut out against two of the sport's greatest young stars.
Messi's case is that he helped guide Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title last season, as well as go on to be named in the Ligue 1 team of the season.
Messi also finished the 2022-23 season at No 1 in the Ligue 1 assists chart and the all-time top scorer in the top five European leagues.
He is, however, in competition with one of his former team-mates in Mbappe, widely seen as one of the world's greatest players.
Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final last year only to lose out to Messi's Argentina, was crowned Ligue 1 Player of the Year after PSG's title win.
The Frenchman scores for fun, bagging 17 goals in his final 20 league games last season. That included a staggering run of nine goals in six matches at one stage.
Lionel Messi has been tipped to win the award with an edge over Erling Haaland and Mbappe whom he saw off to win his 8th Ballon d'Or earlier this year.
Originally, 12 players were shortlisted for the award with Manchester City stars Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva all making the cut.
FIFA's Best awards honour the most outstanding performers across the men's and women's game, running from December 19, 2022, to August 20, 2023.
The winner will be discovered at a ceremony in London on January 15, 2024.
Messi won FIFA's Best in 2022 after leading Argentina to World Cup glory, and he again finds himself in the mix at the age of 36 after transforming the fortunes of Inter Miami in MLS.
Even with Messi's greatness he has his work cut out against two of the sport's greatest young stars.
Messi's case is that he helped guide Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title last season, as well as go on to be named in the Ligue 1 team of the season.
Messi also finished the 2022-23 season at No 1 in the Ligue 1 assists chart and the all-time top scorer in the top five European leagues.
He is, however, in competition with one of his former team-mates in Mbappe, widely seen as one of the world's greatest players.
Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final last year only to lose out to Messi's Argentina, was crowned Ligue 1 Player of the Year after PSG's title win.
The Frenchman scores for fun, bagging 17 goals in his final 20 league games last season. That included a staggering run of nine goals in six matches at one stage.
Lionel Messi has been tipped to win the award with an edge over Erling Haaland and Mbappe whom he saw off to win his 8th Ballon d'Or earlier this year.