FIFA The Best Special Awards. Footballer wins after six months without football, Martinez ahead of Courtois in the form of his life

COMMENTARY – The annual FIFA The Best awards are over. And this time it has brought a huge wave of controversy. Not to mention that the award for the best female footballer of the year goes to Alexia Putellas, who hasn’t kicked a ball in over six months.

The awards for the best footballers have been split for a while now. The most prestigious one, the Ballon D’OR or Golden Ball, is now awarded per season, not per calendar year.

The less prestigious and more widely watched one, FIFA The Best, is still awarded per calendar year and, unlike the journalists, is voted for by national team captains and coaches. This often leads to players voting for their friends and teammates, not always entirely telling.

Already the choice of Lionel Messi is a bit questionable, but understandable. Although he was not visible at all in the spring, he was already out in the Champions League eighth round where he did not score a penalty, he finished the season with six goals, but he dragged Argentina to victory in the World Cup.

However, Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema had the season of his life. He led Real Madrid to win the Champions League over PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City, scoring 3 goals for all teams. He also became the top scorer in La Liga, which Real dominated overwhelmingly.

Benzema had a fantastic spring, Messi had a great autumn topped off by the World Cup. It’s hard to judge which is more, but it’s understandable.

Martínez instead of Courtois?

Much more speculative, however, are the other two prizes. The best goalkeeper award went to Emiliano Martínez, who has struggled for most of the year with Aston Villa’s relegation battles. He only managed one tournament, or rather the end of the championship, and that earned him the award for the best goalkeeper in the world in 2022.

That’s a bit ridiculous compared to Thibaut Courtois, who caught superhuman things last year. In the Champions League final, he put in one of the best performances in the history of goalkeeping in this competition, he kept Real Madrid at bay with his saves all year long, and he had absolutely no competition between the sticks.

Martínez should have won the award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament, but not for the whole year. There, compared to Courtois, who picked up La Liga and the Champions League, it looks pretty strange.

And the third odd selection we find is for Footballer of the Year. Sure, Alexia Putellas is the best female footballer in the world at the moment and deservedly got the Ballon d’Or last October. But the problem is that the Barcelona player hasn’t kicked a ball for six months.

She has been out since July with a knee injury and missed the European Championships. How can the award for the best female footballer of 2022 go to someone who has played only 5 months out of 12?

It’s a bit reminiscent of the Czech Nightingale award, which Karel Gott won out of inertia towards the end and there was no one else to give it to.

In the eyes of millions of fans around the world, the FIFA The Best awards have lost their credibility, which was not so great.

Even legendary goalkeeper Iker Casillas took a dig at the awards. “There are things I don’t understand about these football awards…,” the former Spanish national team captain wrote on Twitter.

Source: FIFA, Iker Casillas, Twitter