It may lack the glamor and prestige of the Ballon d’Or, but FIFA’s Best Award still makes headlines every year.
The awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, December 18th, with awards presented to players and coaches, with Vinicius Junior avenging his Ballon d’Or disappointment by winning the 2024 FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award.
The Brazilian beat recent Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, as well as Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal and Lamine Yamal. It was the first victory for the Real Madrid winger, who was voted on by the national team captain, coach, journalists and supporters.
Vinicius was a worthy winner of FIFA’s top men’s football award, but there were some votes that raised some eyebrows.
Voting for individual football awards often sees teammates and compatriots banding together to support each other. The memo does not appear to have been passed on to England captain and Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane, who refused to give his international friend Bellingham first place in the top three vote. .
Kane only put Bellingham in second place, with Rodri in first place and winner Vinicius in third. England’s record scorer opted for the winner’s podium, even if all his choices were wrong.
Bellingham won the bronze medal in the FIFA Best Male Player voting after a sensational year with Real Madrid. With Los Blancos, he won La Liga and the Champions League, and helped England reach the Euro 2024 final.
Lionel Messi doesn’t have to do much these days to be on the shortlist for football’s top prize. The diminutive wizard, who won the Ballon d’Or eight times, won the 2024 Copa America, but is definitely not in the top 11 of male soccer players in the world.
That was probably the sentiment echoed by Argentine journalist Claudio Mauri, who did not vote for Messi in the top three. Instead, they chose Rodri, Lamine Yamal and Toni Kroos.
Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni voted for Messi and placed him in first place, but he was not the only manager to win the World Cup. However, Messi ultimately did not trouble the top five and finished in 6th place.
Messi himself voted for the teenager Yamal as his top vote, and his links with Barcelona are thought to have influenced his decision.
Erling Haaland was one of the least popular candidates among voters, finishing eighth after a slightly underwhelming 2024 by his own incredibly high standards. The Manchester City forward won the Premier League and was the division’s top scorer in 2023/24, but was overshadowed by teammate Rodri.
Apparently Norway and Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard felt the same way. He placed his national team-mate in third place, with both Rodri and Vinicius ahead of him, while Norwegian coach Starre Solbakken placed Haaland in second place.
Norwegian media representative Morten Pedersen also removed Haaland from the top spot and, like Odegaard, chose Haaland in third place.
Based on the results of The Best poll, it’s no wonder that coaches from around the world only watch soccer for a few months out of the year. Many national team coaches conjure up strange top-three rankings, and Switzerland coach Murat Yakin is no different.
The rogue top three of Florian Wirtz (1st), Federico Valverde (2nd) and Lamine Yamal (3rd) would have surprised quite a few, ignoring both Rodri and Vinicius.
German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann naturally left out Vinicius and selected Germans Wirtz and Toni Kroos, but Belgian coach Domenico Tedesco chose Yamal, Wirtz and Haaland as his three preferred players. is.
There are some questionable decisions there.
