What is the most important individual award in football? Fifa’s “The Best” or France Football’s “Bal d’Or”? In Europe, the second is the most respected. In Brazil, the official seal always rules. The French made a fool of themselves in 2020 by canceling the award because of the pandemic. Football was resumed, FIFA awarded Lewandowski and gained a lot of ground in this dispute. Land that, in my opinion, loses by “withholding” a The Best from Benzema.
That’s what happened today. The Argentine national team dominated the awards – Messi was voted best in the world, Scaloni the best coach, Dibu Martínez, best goalkeeper. It is as if the 2021/2022 season had not happened for FIFA and voters. It is normal for it to be like this, the problem is not the winners, the problem was the criteria. The date. The Best should have been held before the World Cup.
The best in the world awards should always take place in August or September, after the end of the European football season. It cannot be a year-round award, because the natural year takes two halves of the season, and that confuses everyone. Normally, the Cup takes place in the middle of the natural year, that is, it marks the end of a season. And, yes, she has a gigantic weight.
There was in 2006, when Cannavaro was placed above Ronaldinho in both Fifa and the Ballon d’Or, or in 2018, when Modric won both. Interestingly, it didn’t have it in 2010 and in 2014, when the awards were unified and Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were elected in name and for the club season, not for what they did in those Cups – this happened basically because the highlights of Spain and Germany were pulverized.
In 2022, the Cup exceptionally was not held at the end of the season. So guys, be patient. Leave it for the next one. The 21/22 season had Karim Benzema as the best player and Courtois as the best goalkeeper, as the Ballon d’Or voters correctly identified.
The 22/23 season will have the awards towards the end of this year and, in this season, the World Cup should appear. And then yes, that Messi, Scaloni or Dibu would be elected (or not). The players who played in the Cup were in the middle of this season. Their teams were playing Championships and Champions and they came back from Qatar for these same Championships and Champions. And, by the way, it is clear that Messi has returned to being the best in the world, for the Cup and for THIS season (not the last one).
Fifa ended up doing to Benzema what France Football did to Lewandowski in 2020. It left the best player of an entire season without a prize, with a beginning, middle and end. In both, the cup went to Messi. Didn’t even need them.
