FIFA awarded Messi and completely discredited the prize. Even Leo didn't expect it!

In London, the gala event of the International Football Federation has come to an end (FIFA), dedicated to presenting awards to the best representatives of the “number one sport” based on the results of 2023. After the announcement of the winner in the main category, a huge scandal broke out: despite his status as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) in history, Argentina captain Lionel Messi simply did not deserve the individual prize. But still he was awarded it.
The absurdity is that Leo didn’t even come to The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony. As foreign media reported, Messi understood that he would not win the prize, so he decided to skip the flight to the UK… How wrong he was.

Let's face it: most of Messi's recent individual awards have raised a lot of questions. In 2021, the Argentine received the Ballon d'Or for winning the Copa America — a surge of activity in the middle of a bad year. Left out of work is Pole Robert Lewandowski, who spent both 2020 and 2021 at the highest level, but missed out on the prize, first due to the coronavirus pandemic, and then because of the historical success of the Albiceleste at the continental championship.

And then there was the triumphant 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Messi became the winner of the championship and the best player of the tournament. Cool, no doubt! But the rest of Messi's year was bad: Paris Saint-Germain performed terribly in the League as champions, and Leo more often disappeared on the field than took over the game and led the Parisians forward. It is not surprising that the award from FIFA and the eighth Golden Ball, which went to the striker, generated skepticism among a considerable number of fans and experts.

And here we go again… For the second time in a row, Messi was recognized as the best football player of the year according to FIFA. For what? For another failure in the Champions League with PSG or gold in the French championship? For the “most important” Leagues Cup, which the 36-year-old Argentine won after moving to David Beckham’s American club Inter Miami? Even the 44th trophy in his career and the title of the most decorated football player in the world cannot compare with what Norwegian goalscorer Erling Haaland achieved last year with Manchester City.
Let’s highlight the main points:

• England champion (top scorer of the tournament);

< li class="article__list-item">FA Cup winner;

• UEFA Champions League winner (top scorer of the tournament);
• winner of the UEFA Super Cup and winner of the Club World Cup;
• best player of the season in Europe according to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA);
• best player of the English Premier League (EPL) of the season -2022/23;
• England record holder for most goals in a season (he scored 36 goals!);
• holder of » Golden Boots of the Premier League and UEFA.

We do not take into account the Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, the third contender for The Best award. Messi's ex-partner at PSG also pales in comparison to the 23-year-old Norwegian: who will be impressed by the victory in Ligue 1, the French Super Cup and the status of the top scorer of the French championship for the fifth time in a row?

However, how could such injustice happen? It turned out that Messi and Haaland received 48 points each, but the decisive factor was the greater number of first places that Messi received in the survey of captains of national teams (677 versus 557). Mbappe was third with 35 points.

It is noted that the captain of the Russian national team, Georgy Dzhikia, named the best striker of Napoli and the Georgian national team, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, followed by Messi and the Belgian midfielder of Manchester City, Kevin De Bruyne. But the head coach of our team, Valery Karpin, gave Messi first place! Haaland was second, and Mbappe completed the top three.

Also among the captains who voted for Leo were Mbappe, Lewandowski, Croatian Luka Modric, Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Englishman Harry Kane, Dutchman Virgil van Dijk, Belgian Romelu Lukaku and Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma… It seems that next year FIFA will have to seriously revise the system voting.
Because this time the results shocked even the fans who had seen a lot.

Fans, meanwhile, are attacking the official social networks of the ceremony organizers:

• «What is FIFA doing with football…»;
• «Is this some kind of joke?!»;
• «Your award has long lost all authority»;
• «You are just maFIFA» (analogy with «mafia» — editor's note);< /li>

“

"Stop crying! Finally, understand that all these awards are rigged.»

• «Pure robbery»;
• “Did you really put the game in the USA above victories in the Premier League and the Champions League?”;
• «Do you even watch football?!»;
• «Corruption in FIFA»;

«»I'm a big fan of Messi, but this is a shame.»
Erling's father, ex-footballer Alf-Inge Haaland, reacts to the announcement We leave Messi as the winner without comment.

Other important nominations The Best

• Best Trainer: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City);
• Best goalkeeper: Ederson (Brazil/Manchester City);
• Symbolic team — 2023: Thibaut Courtois (Belgium/Real Madrid), John Stones (England/Manchester City), Kyle Walker (England/Manchester City), Ruben Dias (Portugal/Manchester City), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City) Manchester City»), Jude Bellingham (England/Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Erling Haaland (Norway/Manchester City), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Inter Miami), Vinicius Junior (Brazil/Real Madrid);
• Ferenc Puskás Award(most handsome goal): Guilherme Madruga (Brazil/Cuiaba);
• Footballer of the year: Aitana Bonmati (Spain/Barcelona) );
• Best women's coach: Sarina Wigman (England team).

Poll how did you feel about another success for Messi?
This is truly a shame.63.2%Leo deserved the award by default36.8%VoteVotes:27216 January, 02 :15