2024-01-15 21:25:36
The election for World Footballer of the Year brought a surprising result. It was not the clearly favored Erling Haaland, but Lionel Messi who won the prestigious award in London on Monday. It is the eighth trophy for the record winner from Argentina, but the freestyle has a stale aftertaste.
While Haaland won the treble of the Champions League, championship and FA Cup with Manchester City, scoring 52 goals in 53 competitive games, Messi has been playing football at Inter Miami for months. In addition to Haaland, PSG star striker Kylian Mbappe also lost out to 36-year-old Messi.
The 2022 world champion wasn’t even present at the gala. When his name was read out as the winner, there was an incredulous silence in the Hammersmith Apollo – apparently everyone in the room had expected Haaland to triumph, and no one had Messi on the bill. Consequently, there was no one to take the trophy from the stage for the ex-Barcelona star.
All team bosses and captains of the national teams of all member associations were entitled to vote. There was also an industry journalist from each country represented and more than a million fan votes in an online vote on the FIFA website. All four groups of voters are each weighted with a quarter of the overall result.
The Spanish Aitana Bonmati became a world footballer. Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola was named world coach; in the women’s category, this trophy went to English team boss Sarina Wiegman (NED). Best goalkeeper was ManCity’s Ederson. Six “Citizens” kickers (John Stones, Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Haaland) made it into the world selection, complemented by Real Madrid professionals Thibaut Courtois, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior as well as by Mbappe and Messi.
The Fair Play Award went to the Brazilian national team, which wore unusual black kits in an international match in the fight against racism. Brazilian Guilherme Madruga won the Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal for an overhead kick from outside the box. The late football legends Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Charlton and Mario Zagallo were also remembered at the gala at the Hammersmith Apollo.
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