Absent at the presentation, but more present than ever: Lionel Messi won The Best award for the best player in the world for the third time, after having won it in 2019 and 2022. The Rosario star, in full preseason with Inter Miami, this time was not to receive his award – in his place it was done by one of the hosts of the event and his former teammate, the Frenchman Thierry Henry – he beat the Norwegian Erling Haaland and the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé in the shortlist, at a gala that took place in London with great football personalities.
The captain of the Argentine National Team, who had just won his eighth Ballon d’Or, this time received the award given by FIFA to the most outstanding footballer for what he has done with Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami and the Albiceleste since December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023.
It should be noted that Messi obtained the same points (48) as Haaland but beat Manchester City’s scorer by the captains’ vote, in the face of the undeniable gesture of disbelief offered by Haaland’s father, former defender Alf-Inge, present at the ceremony in which his son was the top favorite. Mbappé, from PSG, closed the podium with 35 points.
As if that were not enough, the man from Rosario was included in the FIFA ideal team, which was made up of Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid/Belgium); Kyle Walker (Manchester City/England), John Stones (City/England), Ruben Dias (City/Portugal); Bernardo Silva (City/Portugal), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid/England), Kevin de Bruyne (City/Belgium); Haaland (City/Norway), Mbappé (PSG/France), Messi and Vinicius Júnior (Real Madrid/Brazil).
The “best fan”, also Argentine
Who was present was the Argentine Hugo “Toto” Daniel Iñíguez, winner of the award for the best fan in the world for the image that went viral while he was feeding his son a bottle during a Colón de Santa Fe match.
During the ceremony and with an emotional video, FIFA paid tribute to the football legends who died in the last year: the Englishman Bobby Charlton, the Brazilian Mario Zagallo and the German Franz Beckenbauer.
In turn, the Catalan Pep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City, won The Best award for best coach over Simone Inzaghi (Inter of Italy) and Luciano Spaletti (Napoli).
Ederson, who plays for Manchester City and the Brazilian National Team, won The Best for the best goalkeeper in the world. He surpassed Courtois (Real Madrid) and Bono (current Al-Hilal, former Sevilla and great performance with Morocco in Qatar 2022).
In the women’s category, Aitana Bonmatí, from Barcelona and the Spanish National Team, won the award for best player and thanked her for speaking Spanish, Catalan and English. The midfielder beat the Colombian Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid) and her compatriot Jenni Hermoso (Pachuca).
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Englishwoman, Mary Earps, won the award for best goalkeeper in the world, ahead of Mackenzie Arnold (West Ham) and Catalina Coll (Barcelona).
In such a way that the ideal FIFPro women’s eleven was made up of Earps; Olga Carmona, Lucy Bronze, Alex Greenwood; Keira Walsh, Alessia Russo, Lauren James, Ella Toone, Bonmatí; Alex Morgan and Sam Kerr.
The Puskás Award for the best goal went to the Brazilian Guilherme Madruga, who playing for Botafogo and spectacularly nailed it with a bicycle kick and from outside the area.
Finally, for its commitment to the fight against racism, especially after the complaints against Vinicius Junior in Spain, the Brazilian National Team was awarded the Fair Play award, received by legends of the caliber of Cafú, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, among others. .
The Montevideo City Torque Under 16 team competed in this shortlist (scoring a goal with two rivals fallen on the grass and then graciously gave up the tie, similar to what happened with Marcelo Bielsa when he coached Leeds United) and the referee Pol van Boekel ( for not admonishing a player who celebrated his goal by lifting his shirt and displaying another underneath that honored fallen colleagues).
2024-01-15 22:32:03
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