Deja vu on the big stage: After the Ballon d’Or, the award as world footballer once again goes to Lionel Messi – and not to ex-BVB star Erling Haaland.
Pep Guardiola rolled his eyes, there was a stunned silence in the audience, and winner Lionel Messi wasn’t there at all – this next big honor also seemed like a farce to many: Messi is once again a world footballer, for the eighth time. And Erling Haaland is coming away empty-handed again after his great season with Manchester City.
The FIFA gala on Monday evening was reminiscent of the awarding of the Ballon d’Or, the other major award in world football, last October.
World champion Messi also won the prize back then, ten months after he finally led Argentina to the big title in Qatar – and even then many observers would have wanted Haaland at the top. A “farce” was the result of last year, said Lothar Matthäus in outrage.
On Monday evening, neither Messi, who is now active at Inter Miami, nor Haaland were there, and perhaps that was better that way. One look at Guardiola, Haaland’s coach at Manchester City, was enough to get an idea of the mood in the Haaland camp. The Spaniard, who had recently been named world coach, seemed very surprised.
Argentina’s World Cup victory not in the evaluation period
In his debut season for City, Haaland became top scorer in the strongest league in the world with 36 goals in 35 games, led the club to the Premier League championship, to victory in the FA Cup and to a great triumph in the Champions League. In the end it wasn’t enough.
This is particularly astonishing because Messi’s big victory with Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar was officially no longer allowed to play a role: the period from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023 was crucial – the World Cup final took place on December 18, 2022 .