At one point there was dead silence – the award winner was not present and the applause from the audience was muted. To the surprise of many, Lionel Messi was voted world footballer at the FIFA Best Awards
Erling Haaland was actually the big favorite, partly because the Norwegian shone like no other in the assessment period for this year’s “The Best” award (December 19, 2022, the day after the World Cup final, to August 20, 2023): The former Salzburg and Dortmund player scored 28 goals in 33 games at club level in the corresponding period and won the treble of championship, FA Cup and Champions League with Manchester City.
Tenly close result and no Messi far and wide
And yet again, the Norwegian world-class striker failed to win his first major individual award. As with the Ballon d’Or, he had to give way to Lionel Messi. The Argentinian scored eight league goals and provided six assists for PSG in the period in question and was knocked out of the Champions League with the French star ensemble in the round of 16 against FC Bayern Munich (0:1, 0:2). In the summer, “La Pulga” left the European continent and moved to the USA to join Inter Miami, for whom he scored one goal in the league and provided two assists in the US Cup during the assessment period.
Although Messi’s numbers were clearly weaker than Haaland’s, it was he who became FIFA World Player of the Year – to the incomprehension of many of the guests in the room. Apparently Messi’s enormous worldwide popularity helped, because as FIFA itself writes, it was an extremely close decision. It couldn’t have been closer, as Messi and Haaland both scored 48 points. In the end, Messi prevailed because he received more first votes. Kylian Mbappé came third with 35 votes
Host Thierry Henry tries his hand at a joke
When the winner was announced, a strange atmosphere prevailed. The auditorium of London’s Apollo Theatre became very quiet, literally dead silent. Those present had probably not expected this outcome – they were completely perplexed. Maybe Messi wasn’t either? The 36-year-old was not present – which was already a malus for this gala – and there was not even a message of greeting from the winner. To make matters worse, there wasn’t even anyone there to accept the trophy on Messi’s behalf.
The presenters, Thierry Henry and Reshmin Chowdhury, tried to make light of the embarrassing situation with a little humor. The Frenchman handed the trophy to his colleague and joked that, as a self-confessed Tottenham Hotspur fan, she should also receive a trophy because Spurs don’t have that feeling. There were a few scattered laughs for the former Arsenal goalscorer’s interlude (2004 champion), but by then the child had already fallen into the well.
Five points decisive – a bland aftertaste remains
The vote was first made by FIFA, which had pre-selected the nominees together with “soccer stakeholders”, meaning “a panel of experts in men’s and women’s soccer”. The winners were then selected by four groups with voting rights: National coaches, national team captains, journalists and fans – each block contributed 25 percent to the overall result. Each member of this “jury” is allowed three votes in descending order – five points, three points and one point.
The national coaches and journalists scored per Haaland, who therefore received 13:11 points in both groups. Among the fans and captains, Messi was again ahead with 13:11 – in the end, the pendulum swung in Messi’s favor because he received more first votes (107:64).
In the end, there is a bitter aftertaste, as Messi’s victory – it was his eighth award after 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2022 – certainly suggests that individual popularity obviously carries more weight in the vote than actual sporting achievements