Temas: FIFA World Cup, Best FIFA Men's Player, France, Antoine Griezmann, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric
FIFA failed to recognize any member of France's World Cup winning squad in the top 3-man shortlist for the Best FIFA Men's Player of The Year award.

After an evenly split voting between fans, journalists, national team coaches, and captains, FIFA, on Monday, revealed the top 3 footballers shortlisted for this year's Best Men's Player award. Cristiano Ronaldo – who will be in the running for a historic third win of the accolade – was named alongside World Cup finalist Luka Modric and Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah.

The results have since been placed under the microscope with fans predominantly questioning the omission of Lionel Messi amid the perplexity of World Cup winners being overlooked. The 31-year-old Barcelona forward, who missed out on the UEFA POTY three-man shortlist barely a week ago, despite failing with Argentina on the international front again, excelled in the Spanish domestic league last season.

Messi added to his collection two more trophies - the Copa del Rey and La Liga - while accruing personal landmarks by topping charts in the league with the most goals (34) and the joint-most assist tally (12) respectively. Not enough? These fellows certainly do not think so:

Relatively, the motivation behind the non-inclusion of a World Cup winner in the three-man shortlist for a FIFA award is one that some fans are finding hard to fathom. After France's heroics, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane were all tipped for a spot on the podium, come September 24.

The first of the aforementioned trio, after finishing second in La Liga with Atletico Madrid and backing that with a successful Europa League campaign, contributed goals to aid Les Bleus in their journey to conquest on the world stage. Was he a major factor at Russia? Maybe, maybe not. However, an argument could stem from the fact that Griezmann accrued more collective honors with both club and country than Mohamed Salah did.

The same can be said of Varane and Mbappe who, aside winning the World Cup, cliched the Champions League and Ligue 1 respectively. Salah, on the other hand, helped the Reds to the UEFA Champions League final and ended the campaign as joint-second in the scoring chart.

The Egyptian forward also scored 32 goals during last season's English Premier League with which he managed to set a new record. At the World Cup, a disappointing spell saw his nation crash out at the group-stages.

In a nutshell, albeit the various debates as to who deserves to be there and who doesn't among Ronaldo, Salah, and Modric, the masses have made their choice. Inasmuch as the presence of a World Cup winner could have spiced things up, if many believe the trio did enough to earn their respective spots in the top three, so be it.