FIFA award
©IMAGO
Argentine world champion Lionel Messi was once again crowned world footballer at a FIFA gala in London on Monday evening, despite his farewell to the big sports stage. The exceptional talent, who has been with Inter Miami since last summer, successfully defended his title from the previous year and surprisingly relegated Erling Haaland from triple champion Manchester City to second place. In addition to the ex-Dortmunder and Messi, who also received the Ballon d’Or, Kylian Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain was one of the three nominated finalists for the coveted award.
German players and coaches were not nominated for the final round this year after İlkay Gündoğan and Marc-André ter Stegen initially made it onto the shortlist. Haaland’s teammate Ederson became the world goalkeeper.
With Matthäus, Zidane & Messi: All FIFA world footballers since 1991
Haaland certainly deserved the award after his outstanding year with Man City. The Norwegian scored 44 goals in 54 games across all competitions – and won not only the treble of the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup, but also the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
Nevertheless, it was Messi again, which calls into question the sporting value of the award, which has been in competition with the Ballon d’Or again for a few years. Messi won this last year because the World Cup title in Qatar in 2022 was also part of the assessment period. At club level, the 36-year-old has long since arrived on the periphery of world football. Coaches, players, journalists – and the fans, the majority of whom still carry Messi in their hearts, are eligible to vote.
Man City’s Guardiola World Coach of the Year
Pep Guardiola was voted World Coach of the Year for the second time. The 52-year-old prevailed in the FIFA election against the Italians Simone Inzaghi (Inter Milan) and Luciano Spalletti SSC Naples/Italy). Guardiola won the election of captains, coaches, fans and journalists for the first time in 2011, when he was still coach of FC Barcelona.
Since 2010: All FIFA World Coaches of the Year
From 2010 to 2015, the election was jointly organized by FIFA and France Football. The award ceremonies have been separate again since 2016. Since then, FIFA has chosen its winners at “The Best FIFA Football Awards”. Often, but not always, the winners in previous years have been identical.
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