Voting without choice – Sport – Kommersant

Lionel Messi again, for the eighth time in his career, became the owner of the title of the best player in the world. The striker, under whose leadership the Argentina national team won the world championship for the third time in its history last December, received the award at a ceremony held by the International Football Federation (FIFA) in Paris. In general, it was, in general, precisely the Argentine evening. Prizes for the best coach in the world were also sent to Argentina – it was received by Lionel Scaloni, the best goalkeeper – went to Emiliano Martinez and even the best fans.

The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony this time, at least in terms of the winner of the main nomination – the best football player in the world in 2022, was devoid of any intrigue. The winner was clear. They simply could not help but become Lionel Messi. Yes, FIFA had to comply with its own rules, invite to the gala evening several shortlisted contenders for prizes (their owners are identified during the voting of head coaches and captains of national teams, journalists and fans registered on FIFA.com). But all this was just a formality that had to be fulfilled before officially declaring that Lionel Messi became the best for the eighth time in his career, and this is an unsurpassed indicator. Any other decision of the jury would have been an occasion for a grandiose scandal.

Yes, the Argentinean had the most powerful competitors. For example, Karim Benzema, who scored a dozen and a half goals for Real Madrid in last season’s triumphant Champions League for Madrid. Or Messi’s PSG teammate Killian Mbappe with his hat-trick in the World Cup final against Argentina. But both French super-forwards lacked just a little to compete with Messi. They did not win the World Cup (Benzema did not play at all due to an injury), but Messi won. At the age of 35, apparently, with his last attempt, he did what was constantly expected of him, but could not wait. And already despaired of waiting. And he took and led the Argentines to their third world title in history, at least standing on the same level (many believe that surpassing him) with Diego Maradona himself. In such a situation, what options did the jury have, except to give the award to Messi? We can say that everything was extremely simple for those who voted. No need to think, everything is already clear – Messi is the strongest.

It should be noted that the Paris ceremony turned out to be very Argentine in general. After all, the best coach of 2022 was named Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni. Again, it would be very strange to leave him without a reward. What else should a coach do to be recognized as the strongest? By the way, Scaloni just extended his contract on Monday and intends to remain a mentor to the three-time world champions until the end of the 2026 world championship. In the nomination of the best goalkeeper, the Argentinean Emiliano Martinez also won. And it was also a completely obvious outcome of the vote. Without Martinez, the Argentina national team would not have received any title (the French team would have received it, and then the award for the strongest player in the world would probably have gone to Mbappe). After all, it was he who in the final, in the post-match penalty shootout, defended for the gold of the World Cup. Well, to complete this picture of the total Argentine holiday, we can add that the South Americans won even in the nomination “Best Fans”.

Arnold Kabanov