FIFA Best award that decides a stalemate based on the amount of votes for the national team captain helped Lionel Messi win his third FIFA Best Men’s Player award over Erling Haaland despite their point standstill.
In the FIFA Best Award for Men’s Player voting, Erling Haaland and Lionel Messi were tied for first position. But since each national team captain’s vote is weighted with five points, Messi was declared the winner because his vote was more than everyone else’s.
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Messi received the trophy during The FIFA best Awards ceremony on Monday in London. The Argentina-based attacker for Inter Miami defeated Kylian Mbappe of PSG and Haaland of Manchester City to win the prize.
Messi and Haaland, with 48 points apiece, were equal for first place. The Inter Miami star, however, profited from the committee’s regulations, which guaranteed ties would not occur on the night of the winner’s ceremony, and his increased number of votes from captains of the national team ensured he was selected.
The 36-year-old chose not to go to the London ceremony to pick up his prize in person. Rather, the honour was accepted on behalf of the Argentine by his former Barcelona teammate and programme presenter, Thierry Henry.
After the votes were tallied, Messi and Haaland were tied for first place. However, Messi won because the men’s national team captains of Argentina nominated him for first place more times than their adversary from Norway.
Messi narrowly prevailed in the end.
Although Messi won in the end, Erling Haaland only came in second place following a tie-breaker, making the race for The Best FIFA Men’s Player award very impossible to predict.
Each contingent accounted for 25% of the total vote. The voting, which was done by national team coaches and captains, journalists, and fans on FIFA’s website, awarded 48 points to both players. The voters were required to select their best three nominees for each category.
After the votes were tallied, Messi and Haaland were tied for first place. However, Messi won because the men’s national team captains of Argentina nominated him for first place more times than their adversary from Norway. This is the closest victory margin since FIFA best award for Men’s Player award was established in 2016, as seen by the image below that was shared on FIFA’s social media platforms. It is also the first time that the award has needed to be decided in this way.
FIFA best award created a comprehensive list of all the voters in The Best FIFA Awards poll for transparency’s sake, and it’s a fascinating read.
To the dismay of supporters on social media, Real Madrid midfielders Federico Valverde and Luka Modric, who are captains of Uruguay and Croatia, respectively, were willing to set aside their rivalry over the El Clasico and vote for Barcelona great Lionel Messi as their favourite men’s player.
Casemiro, the captain of Brazil, at least followed party lines. Despite being the City striker’s cross-town adversary at Manchester United, the former Real midfielder chose to vote for Haaland as the greatest player of 2023 instead of Messi.
On the other hand, Portugal captain Pepê and England men’s coach Gareth Southgate decided not to include the former Barcelona player in their top three rankings at all, as Messi was left out of both lists.
For the record, Messi chose to select Haaland as his first option instead of Kylian Mbappé, his former Paris Saint-Germain colleague, in second place. Julián Álvarez, another Argentina international striker, received his vote in third place.
Pep unleashed a “F” bomb
During The Best FIFA Awards event, Pep Guardiola, the coach of Manchester City, displayed his extraordinary lack of diplomacy by making an unplanned “F” bomb live on stage.Co-host of the event and former Barcelona player Thierry Henry invited Guardiola to choose between his two greatest teams: the unstoppable Barça squad of 2009 or the all-conquering City triple winners of 2023.Upon being placed under pressure to make a decision, the confused coach could first only respond with a frustrated curse.
Henry liked to make little jabs at the Spurs
Henry accepted the trophy in Messi’s place since the former Barça teammate was unable to attend the ceremony to accept it personally.Co-hosting the awards with Henry, an Arsenal hero, was British TV presenter and journalist Reshmin Chowdhury, who also happens to be a fan of Arsenal’s local rivals, Tottenham Hotspur.when taking up the award in Messi’s honour. Henry was compelled to make a lighthearted jab at the Spurs’ 16-year title drought.