The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony delivered its verdict on Monday evening in Qatar, and it brought a smile to Vinicius Jr’s face. Beaten by Rodri in the vote for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, to the great dismay of Real Madrid who boycotted the gala, the Brazilian striker took his revenge by finishing this time ahead of the Spanish midfielder from Manchester City, with only 5 points ahead (48 against 43), Jude Bellingham completing the podium (37 points).
The rest of the ranking? Dani Carvajal and Lamine Yamal complete the top 5 while Lionel Messi climbs to sixth position, ahead of Toni Kroos, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, Florian Wirtz and Federico Valverde. At 37 years old, and after playing for more than a year in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, the Argentine world champion proves that he still has his place among the best players on the football planet. Deserved? The question arises.
Lionel Messi sixth in The Best, “a shame”
On social networks, many are wondering why “la Pulga”, who was not even one of the 30 nominated for the last Ballon d’Or, is found so high.
“Messi sixth in the FIFA The Best award, I’m sorry but it’s such a scandal”we can read on X (formerly Twitter). “It’s pathetic”,
“It’s a shame for the sport! »,
“Scam, even without playing he will still be in the rankings, it’s crazy”, “Nice joke”reacted other Internet users.
To understand this fairly flattering ranking of the number 10 of the Albiceleste, still winner of the Copa América, you have to look at the details of the votes. Among the captains, those of Anguilla, Bangladesh, Fiji, Gibraltar, Italy, Laos, Lesotho, Malta, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Tunisia put him first . Among the selectors too, the former Barcelona and Parisian has maintained a good popularity rating.
Thus those of Argentina, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, North Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Burma, Nigeria, Tonga, Uruguay, the United States and Vietnam voted for him as number one. A surprising choice given the competition, but we must believe that Lionel Messi remains “the” reference in the eyes of many observers.
