FIFPro Team of the Year 2022: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe in shortlist

FIFPro Team of the Year 2022: The men's 26-member shortlist has been announced. The ones to have made it to the list are Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe.

The bygone year 2022 was significant for football in terms of player performances, especially since the year included the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, won by Lionel Messi-led Argentina. Over a month into 2023, we have the 26-member shortlist of men's 2022 FIFPro Team of the Year, which includes some top stars and some debatable ones.

The ones who have made it to the list are Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. However, Ronaldo's inclusion in the list does come as a surprise, given his troublesome start to the 2022-23 season with English giants Manchester United, while the club and his national side Portugal during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar dropped him.

Alongside Ronnie is his longtime Argentine rival Messi, who has featured in the list on all occasions since 2007. However, he is all set to face a tough battle with Erling Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar, Robert Lewandowski and Karim Benzema in the fray. Ronaldo, Haaland, Lewandowski and Messi dominated the forward list last year.

Also on the list are Bellingham and Enzo Fernandez as midfielders, besides Casemiro, Kevin de Bruyne, Gavi, Luka Modric, Pedri and Federico Valverde. Among the defenders are Joao Cancelo, Virgil van Dijk, Antonio Rudiger, Thiago Silva, Alphonso Davies, Josko Gvardiol, Achraf Hakimi and Theo Hernandez. As for the goalkeepers, Alisson Becker, Thibaut Courtois and Emiliano Martinez have made it to the list.