In this ranking, revealed shortly before the announcement of the winners of the annual Ballon d'Or trophies, the Moroccan goalkeeper was ahead of key figures in world football, including Frenchman Karim Benzema, last year’s Ballon d'Or, Argentinian goalkeeper and world champion, Emiliano Martinez, and British striker, Harry Kane.
Yassine Bounou also leads the nominees for the 2023 Yashin Trophy, awarded to the world's best goalkeeper in the 2022-2023 season.
Bounou is in the lists of nominees for these two trophies following a special season marked by a historic fourth place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the Moroccan squad and a Europa League title with his former Spanish club Sevilla FC, with a record of 47 games, 14 clean sheets and only 66 goals conceded.
These two trophies are awarded by an international jury of specialized journalists, one representative per country (the first 100 in the latest FIFA ranking), based on three main criteria: individual and collective performances, the player’s class (including fair play) and their sporting career.