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FIFA have released the nominee list for The Best men's footballer in the world, and Ronaldo was a visible omission.
FIFA released the nominees for their ‘The Best’ awards today, and Cristiano Ronaldo was omitted.
FIFA The Best, the yearly award ceremony recognising the best-performing football professionals for the calendar year, have released a 14-man shortlist for the best male footballers.
The Al-Nassr forward who won the award in 2016 and 2017 would miss the chance to win it again this year, as he was not nominated.
FIFA snubs Ronaldo
A 14-man shortlist for FIFA The Best men's award was released today January 12, and Ronaldo was not included.
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Ronaldo's rival, who won the award in 2019 and finished on the podium in four other years, Lionel Messi, makes the list alongside his mentee, Kylian Mbappe.
His former teammates, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric, who himself won the award in 2018, were also nominated.
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Robert Lewandowski is the only player to have won the award twice after Cristiano Ronaldo, he also made the shortlist.
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African superstar Mohammed Salah who came third in 2018 and 2021 was also nominated.
See the full list of nominees here.
Why Ronaldo was omitted
Ronaldo won the first edition of the award in 2016 and went on to win it for the second year in a row in 2017.
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He finished second, third, and second in the three years after that, but didn't make the podium in 2021.
The nominees for the year 2022 have now been rolled out, and the five-time Champions League winner missed out.
Ronaldo had a rather tumultuous year and has fallen off the rather high standards he set for himself that helped him win the awards.
Ronaldo scored only 16 goals in 2022, compared to 2016, when he first won the award and scored 55 goals, so the drop-off is very steep.
The following year, when he picked up the award again, he scored 53 times.
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