Messi and the world footballer election: the event leaves a “smell”

Lionel Messi has been named world footballer again. However, the election turned into a farce. The event was also not short on unpleasant moments.

In the end, the one who actually always wins won. Lionel Messi secured the title of world footballer for the eighth time in his career on Monday evening. The Argentine remains the ultimate in the sport. But the fact that Messi won the title in London this time caused confusion not only locally.

A different winner of the election for the best footballer of 2023 was actually expected around the world. Erling Haaland not only won the treble of the English championship, FA Cup and Champions League with his club Manchester City. The Norwegian broke the goal record in the English league in his first season, scoring an incredible 50 goals in the 2023 calendar year.

But that wasn’t enough for the award as a world footballer, even though Messi didn’t play an outstanding second half of the season at Paris Saint-Germain and then left in the summer for the American MLS, which had a manageable level. “La Pulga’s” World Cup title should actually no longer be included in the election, as he won the cup with Argentina in December 2022. The Argentine’s honor led to people shaking their heads. But there were other reasons for this.

Because as it turned out, Messi and Haaland ended up with the same score. Both the 36-year-old and his counterpart, who is 13 years younger, scored 48 points. The fact that Messi ultimately became a world footballer was due to some of the voters.

The voices consist of those of the captains of the national teams, coaches, press representatives and fans. Each eligible voter chooses what they believe to be the three best footballers of the year.

But in the event of a tie, the focus is particularly on the choice of captains. Their first votes, i.e. the votes for the player they put first, are then decisive. Here Messi was clearly ahead of Haaland. England captain and Bayern star Harry Kane, for example, chose the Argentine.

Hardly anyone could understand why the result was this way. This became clear when it was announced that Messi and not Haaland would receive the award. The applause in the hall: restrained.

The look from ex-Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, who had already trained both stars, spoke volumes. The Spaniard looked extremely surprised. Erling Haaland’s father Alf-Inge also had a very clear reaction. When Messi’s name was read out, it looked like the ex-footballer was raising his eyebrows.

But things got really unpleasant shortly afterwards. Because the prize winner, like his competitor Erling Haaland, wasn’t there at all. And: There was no video player, as is usual in such cases. This resulted in a strange situation on stage, in which the presenter and ex-footballer Thierry Henry made a verbal mistake.

The former star striker tried to bridge the strange mood. He accepted the trophy on Messi’s behalf and said: “I have two reasons for taking it. First: I never won it, so I’m keeping it.” This only elicited a few laughs from the audience.

Then Henry asked his co-host Reshmin Chowdhury: “You’re a Tottenham fan, right?” Silence in the hall. “You don’t normally get your hands on trophies,” Henry then said. There were a few laughs and some applause from the audience for the Arsenal legend’s lead against arch-rivals Tottenham. But there wasn’t really a good mood. The event then moved relatively quickly to the election of the world footballer.