It came out predictable and bland.

Updated award

Some time ago, the football world was not divided between the two main prizes. This was the case from 2010 to 2015, when the Ballon d’Or and the award for the best footballer of the year were combined. But that experiment seemed unsuccessful to both organizers: France Football and fifa. And the fans were unhappy. Therefore, soon the prizes were divided again and fifa renamed for mine.

The best prize from fifa is awarded at the end of the calendar year. In this case, 2022. It is clear that if the entire season as a whole is important for the Ballon d’Or, then for fifa and its prizes the most important event is the world championship. And if the prize year includes this tournament, then there is very little doubt about the favorites and winners. Therefore, in this case, it turned out to be somewhat predictable.

But first, let’s recall the previous winners. Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski have won the best player award twice. Once the award went to Luka Modric, once again to Lionel Messi, he won in 2019, beating then favorite Virgil van Dijk.

Team of the Year

A little apart from the individual award ceremony in The Best ceremony there is the definition of the best team of the year. It is compiled according to FIFPro, i.e. the International Association of Footballers’ Unions. It’s interesting to see which of the peers pro players put into it at the end of 2022.

Goalkeeper: Thibault Courtois Defenders: Joao Cancelo, Virgil van Dijk, Ashraf Hakimi Midfielders: Casemiro, Luka Modric, Kevin de Bruyne; Forwards: Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe.

We see that we got a kind of mixed version, which took into account both the overall performance of the year in the club, and especially the World Cup in Qatar. Suppose Courtois world Cup-2022 didn’t show anything, but he was good at Real Madrid. Nobody saw the Netherlands in Qatar, but the most brilliant performance at Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City was enough.

The “setup” of such a team is questionable, appearing too imaginative with four top strikers, but with three midfielders and defenders, two of which are wingers and forwards. But these are questions for FIFPro. And for some they will raise doubts about the seriousness of the assessment approach. On the other hand, the members of this team can be understood. Read the forwards list again and think about who you would eliminate at the end of 2022. Try to be objective. You can remember again world Cup without Benzema and Holland, but it is impossible to imagine the past year without their effective actions. Therefore, it turned out such a compromise – a “crutch”.

Dominion of Argentina

So, we have already understood that special attention will be paid to the World Championship at The Best award. And if everything pointed to the main triumphant, which did not cause much controversy and doubts, then in other nominations one could expect a more stubborn struggle and unexpected winners. It did not work.

Lionel Scaloni, who led Argentina to the title, received the award for best coach. And in the top three, he was ahead of Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Manchester City’s Josep Guardiola. As if whoever determined the winner and finalists, knowing in advance who will receive the prize, he chose the most authoritative competitors in the last year, who, at the same time, certainly don’t shine. This is when you already know the winner in advance, but you have to create an intrigue and add Schwarzenegger and Stallone to it. It turns out a trifle, but it looks like a state. For 2021, the same award was received by Thomas Tuchel, who won the Champions League with Chelsea. In general, again trophies are ahead of everything. And if not world Cupso it will help you Champions Leaguealthough this is not the area of ​​responsibility fifa.

In the goalkeeper battle, a similar story unfolded. True, here the approach turned out to be more shifted towards the World Cup. The victory was obviously won by Emiliano Martinez, about whose match during the whole of last year nobody knew anything and cannot say anything. But a couple of successful games and you are the best of the year. How fair this is is a debatable issue, and fans are breaking spears with pleasure and anger over it. But his name is certainly known to more people than the name of the club he plays for.

He overtook Martinez Yasin Buna of Sevilla, but, of course, was included in the top three finalists not for the Spanish club, even if he plays more brilliantly than Martinez at Aston Villa. It was necessary to somehow celebrate the Moroccan national team, which made a historic breakthrough. Apparently inside fifa they did not remember the name of the manager of the Moroccans, so they found the goalkeeper, one of the most famous footballers of this team, who also made an incredible contribution to reach the semifinals.

Thibaut Courtois was also among the top three, but for a change. In homage to the old tradition of something to celebrate the winners of the Champions League. It’s just that this time the year included the World Cup, so Ancelotti and Courtois had to move. And then they would definitely take the appropriate awards. At the end of 2021, Edouard Mendy became the best goalkeeper, by the way. What did you think?

Main prize

There was no doubt who would receive the main prize of the ceremony. One approach fifa, more transparent than the waters of Lake Baikal, suggested looking for the best of Argentines. And here, even with the World Cup, even without it, Icardi remains on the sidelines. Everyone knows this name. If Martinez and Scaloni took theirs, Messi had no chance of receiving an award. And you can’t say he didn’t deserve it.

How not to say that the contestants in the top three here were “stuffed” by quantity. Still, Benzema won the Ballon d’Or and the same, the “spare” for fifathe Champions League and Mbappe is just impressive with his game, his performances and the number of awards he will win when Messi is already coaching or walking in the form of Newells Old Boys.

It’s up to you to judge whether the award was a hit or not based on fan preferences. It can only be said unequivocally that fifa it does not yet reach the level of France Football in the organization of the action and its presentation, although it has luxurious resources. Another thing is that fifa it is limited by the fact that it is forced to push the importance of its tournaments, while France Football sidesteps these nuances. If the level of the Champions League semi-finals is higher than that of the World Cup semi-finals, then they prefer the former, relatively speaking. AND Fifa, held hostage by its system, repeatedly delivers a predictable show. Especially in the year of the World Cup. They could have just created a mailing list without putting on a pompous show in Paris.