Every season, they are a topic of debate, but how does EA Sports arrive at the numbers they allot as overall rankings for each player in the game? Every year, EA Sports makes 100 player ratings for the best players in the game along with the entire database of player ratings from all the licensed leagues when it releases a new FIFA game. 

Before the new FIFA was released, there were debates over FIFA ratings. And every season, without fail, is like this. EA receives criticism regularly for rating players either too well or too poorly. But how exactly are these FIFA rankings created? Here we look at players ranked the best in the new FIFA 23. The list consists of the five players tied for the best FIFA rating. 

1. Karim Benzema 

Karim Benzema might be the current occupant of Ronaldo and Messi’s throne. Questions of the next player to step into their footsteps can be held temporarily after the 34 years old French became the fifth French player to win the Ballon d’Or while also winning UEFA Player of the Year. 

Benzema, 34 years and 302 days old, is the oldest Ballon d’Or winner since Stanley Matthews, 41 years old, in 1956. Given that he assumed the position of Real Madrid’s major goal scorer following Ronaldo’s departure in 2018, Benzema is rightfully deserving of his roses. After switching from the false nine positions, he consistently scored goals as a solitary striker. 

From 2018 to 2022, he received four straight selections to the La Liga Team of the Season. He also won the La Liga Best Player award twice and the Pichichi Trophy for the first time in 2022. As he won his fifth championship in 2022, Benzema finished as the top scorer in the Champions League.

2. Kevin De Bruyne 

Kevin De Bruyne again led Manchester City to the Premier League throne in 2020/2023. The Belgian who won Premier League Player of the Season last season is the best player in English football, and his rating was only an affirmation by FIFA. De Bruyne finished third in the 2022 Fifa Ballon d’Or. 

De Bruyne is a master of the art of passing, and only his teammate Ederson from Manchester City has a passing rating higher than his 93, and no one else in the game can match that. De Bruyne does not only dish out assists. He scored 19 goals in 44 appearances last season for Manchester City. His rating is well deserved, and his recent link-up with Erling Haaland will only see it increase in the nearest future. 

3. Kylian Mbappe

The French Prodigy’s rating remained the same after He won the Ligue One with PSG. He was named in the UEFA Champions League team of the season despite the French Champions’ abysmal display in the competition. 

He also became just the third player to lead Ligue 1 in scoring four straight seasons with 28 goals. Mbappé finished the season with 17 assists, making him the only player in Ligue 1 history to hold the top scoring and assist positions simultaneously. His rating is fair as he remains the fastest player in the game, with a pace rating of 97.

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4. Robert Lewandowski 

Lewandowski was unlucky to miss out on the Ballon d’Or last season, and it was scandalous that he didn’t win it when they canceled it the year before. However, in recent years, he has undoubtedly been the finest and most reliable No. 9 in all of football. 

He is currently vying for a third straight European Golden Shoe in Barcelona. Messi was the only other player to accomplish that. He has a lower rating in FIFA 23 than last season, which seems cruel, given that he scored 50 goals in 46 games.

5. Lionel Messi 

A top 100 Central Attacking Midfielder (CAM) , Messi plays for Paris Saint-Germain in the French Ligue 1. He joined the club in 2021 with a class cap of €99,900,000, and his 2nd contract is also playing as a footballer for the Argentine football club, was chosen for 10th place in international competitions.

With seven Ballon d’Or triumphs, his standing as the current winner influences the pick. Though he had a poor season in Ligue One, it cannot be ignored. Messi’s initial season in Ligue 1 saw him provide six goals and 14 assists. Thus his overall rating dipped by two points.

The FIFA Rating doesn’t accurately summarize a player’s performance in a season. It can be biased, and it can also be preferential. However, the list above is a fair representation of the player’s performance in the 2022 season, and it’s one of the best FIFA ratings in recent times

A Penalty Kick is a method of restarting play in the game of football. It is awarded when a foul is committed by an opposing team member in the 18-yard box, also known as the penalty area. Also, if a match in the knockout stage has passed extra time and a winner is yet to emerge, A penalty shootout ensues.

A penalty involves giving a member of the fouled team a chance to take a direct kick at the goal from the penalty spot against the opposing team’s goalkeeper. The exceptionally highly competitive nature of the world cup explains why there might be a number of fouls committed. 

Why Are Penalties In The World Cup Such A Big Deal?

A penalty can make or break a team in the World Cup. Due to the highly competitive nature of the tournament, virtually all participants bring their best to compete. In the World Cup, being awarded a penalty is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You don’t get multiple chances at it, unlike at the club level.

Scoring a penalty can turn a random player into a hero while missing one can lead to the player being seen as his country’s villain. In case of a penalty shootout, the pressure is quite worse as it’s easier to single out players who either ended the country’s time in the competition or progressed to the next stage. 

How Penalties Affect Participant Countries

The Ghanaian National Team gave a performance of a lifetime at the 2010 World Cup, which was held in South Africa. In the quarterfinals, they played a difficult Uruguay team with aspirations of becoming the first African nation to reach the World Cup semifinals.

As extra time was about to conclude and a penalty shootout appeared likely, the score was tied at one. Luis Suarez handled the ball on the goal line in the 120th minute to prevent Ghana from scoring, which resulted in the African team being given a penalty and, as a result, the potential to win it in the 120th minute and create history.

So, he was sent out. Asamoah Gyan moved forward to attempt the penalty kick, but his attempt hit the wall. The match went to penalties, and Uruguay won as the Ghanaians, whose spirits were dampened, couldn’t get over Gyan’s miss. Luis Suarez was a hero for the Uruguay National team, while Asamoah Gyan was seen as a villain. 

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Why More Penalties To Be Awarded In The 2022 World Cup?

More penalties are anticipated at the 2022 World Cup, thanks to VAR (video assistant referee). VAR was implemented to help on-pitch officials discover fouls committed inside the box that might have gone unnoticed. The on-pitch referee receives advice from the video-assisted referee, who monitors the game on multiple screens and has access to slow-motion replays. In the past, penalty kicks were not granted because the referee failed to notice them.

The review procedure VAR introduces will ensure those are found and punished. This is the fourth year since VAR was introduced, and it has only improved. The first year of VAR was the 2018 FIFA World cup, and the record for the most penalties awarded in a world cup was broken with 29 penalties awarded in the 2018 World Cup. More Penalties are expected to be awarded in this world cup as the VAR has only improved since then. 

Top Penalty Takers Heading Into The 2022 World Cup 

Cristiano Ronaldo 

The Manchester United and Portugal man has a long history of scoring many penalties for both club and country. Ronaldo is the go-to player, and for a good cause, if his team earns a penalty at any point during a game. The captain of Portugal has converted 145 of his 174 attempts from the penalty spot for club and country. Ronaldo now has a remarkable conversion rate of 83%.

Robert Lewandowski

The Barcelona and Poland man is a prolific striker with 556 goals in 760 appearances for club and country. The Polish striker has a killer instinct in front of the goal, and it’s the same story when he steps to the penalty spot. Lewandowski has converted 71 of his 78 attempts from the spot. He has an amazing 91% conversion rate. 

Harry Kane

Harry Kane consistently converts penalties for England and Tottenham Hotspur. Kane has converted 56 of the 66 penalties he has taken for club and country throughout his career, for an 84.8% overall conversion rate. He’s the second England player to score 50 goals. 

The World Cup had already seen its record for the most penalties awarded by a considerable margin in 2018 when the VAR was just introduced. Now with the VAR in its fourth year of existence, the scrutiny of the assessment of fouls is about to become more intense, and it’d consequently see more penalties awarded. 

Champions League Final Date and Place

The 68th season of Europe’s best club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, will come to a close with the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final. The match will conclude the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. It is also the 31st season since the competition was rebranded as the UEFA Champions League after formerly being known as the European Champion Clubs’ Cup. It will take place on June 10, 2023, at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. 

At the Champions League group stage draw, which took place on August 25, 2022, in Istanbul, it was revealed which team will compete in the UEFA Champions League Final in 2023. The kickoff time of the event has not yet been determined; but, if the past few years are any indicator, it is expected that the match will begin at 20:00 BST in the United Kingdom, 15:00 ET in the United States and Canada, and 05:00 AEST in Australia.

Atatürk Olympic Stadium 

The Atatürk Olympic stadium opened its doors in 2002 and currently serves as the home of the Turkish national team. It was constructed to assist Türkiye in its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. It is located in the Basaksehir neighborhood of the city, west of the Bosphorus. It has a capacity of more than 75,000 seats. Wembley Stadium in London, England, was supposed to be the host venue for the championship game at one point. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the final was scheduled to take place in 2020. It had to be postponed and moved to a different location.

As a result, the scheduled hosts for subsequent finals had to be moved back by one year, and the Allianz Arena in Munich was responsible for hosting the final in 2023. The last was supposed to take place in Istanbul in 2021. But it had to be moved because of the pandemic in Turkey. It was moved to Istanbul in 2023 instead. This decision was made when the 2021 final had to be moved. The World Cup final in 2025 will now be held in Munich.

It will be the second major UEFA championship final at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium. The first one, the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2005, was won by Liverpool on penalties against AC Milan and took place at the same stadium. The ‘Miracle of Istanbul,’ in which the Reds won despite being behind 3-0 at halftime, is considered one of the most remarkable comebacks in the annals of European sporting history.

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The Host Selection of Сhampions League

On February 22, 2019, UEFA announced the beginning of an open bidding process to pick the locations of the UEFA Champions League finals for the years 2022 and 2023. The deadline for associations to submit their expressions of interest was March 22, 2019, and the submission deadline for bid dossiers was July 1, 2019.

UEFA has not yet confirmed the associations competing for the 2021 final. However, people rumored that the German Football Association submitted a bid with the Allianz Arena in Munich if they were not selected to host the event.

The UEFA Executive Committee made the decision to hold the UEFA Champions League final at the Allianz Arena on September 24, 2019, during their meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The venues for the UEFA Champions League finals in 2021 and 2023 were also decided during this meeting.

The UEFA Executive Committee announced on June 17, 2020, that due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final, Munich would instead host the 2023 final. This news came about on June 17, 2020. They would, however, play host to the last in 2023 if it were not for the fact that they would move it from Istanbul in 2021. Instead, Munich would play host to the final in 2025.

The UEFA Champions League trophy has a height of 73.5 centimeters and a mass of 7.5 kg. According to the man who came up with the idea, Jurg Stadelmann, “It may not be an artistic masterpiece, but everybody in football is keen to get their hands on it.” The 2022–23 season champions are also guaranteed a spot in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the 2023–24 season, provided they have not already qualified through their local league.