The incredible vote that crowned Lionel Messi with The Best award: why he beat Haaland despite having equalized

Kristine Lilly, former US player, and Sonia Fulford, president of the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association, enter smiling and beaming to announce the award The Best for the best player in the world 2023 at the Apollo Theater in London, England. Sofía brings the award and places it delicately on the lectern. Kristine opens the envelope nowannounces Lionel Messi. The surprise is general, it smells like a success, it seems incredible. Not due to the Argentine’s fault but due to the period taken for the award ceremony, from 19 December 2022, one day after winning the World Cup in Qatar, until 20 August 2023, one day before winning the League Cup with Inter Miami .

Lionel isn’t there. Neither Erling Haaland AND Kylian Mbappe. The three candidates missed the appointment. Frenchman Thierry Henry, former world champion and one of the presenters, also approaches, surprised. “Good,” he says, still uncomfortable, but immediately reacts with humor: “Unfortunately the winner of the Best, Leo Messi, is not here, so I accept it. I take it because I have never won one and because at least I am here”. Everyone smiles and applauds tepidly. Messi does not appear in the distance, there is no video. There is only one other record in the history of football, because the Rosarian wins for the third time, for the second consecutive year, the only one.

The unknown has taken over all football fans. How did I win? How did they choose it?

In summary, The captain of the Argentine national team tied with Erling Haaland with 48 votes but he received fuller marks from his fellow captains (worth 5 points), who decided the award in his favor.

The electoral system seems complex but the explanation is clear. The winners are selected by an international jury made up of the current coaches of all the female/male teams (one per team), the current captains of all the female/male teams (one per team), a specialized journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans from all over the world registered on FIFA.com. FIFA has 211 member associations and millions of registered fans.

Each member of the jury was invited to nominate, in descending order of merit, the three players, three coaches and three goalkeepers considered most deserving of the respective award. The three players, three coaches and three goalkeepers nominated by each jury member will receive five points, three points or one point respectively, depending on whether the jury member places the player, coach or goalkeeper first (five points), second (three points). or third (one point).

For example, Messi, captain of Argentina, voted for Haaland (5 points), Mbappé (3 points) and Julián Alvarez (one point). In the event of a tie, as happened, the captains’ first options are worth more, of which 107 voted for Messi and 64 for the Norwegian. Furthermore, the Argentine won the fans’ vote, while the Manchester City striker was chosen more by coaches and journalists. The Frenchman always finished third.

Some captains who voted first for Messi were Radamel Falcao, Luka Modric, Enner Valencia, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé. Gianluigi Donnarumma. Heung Min Son, Memo Ochoa, Virgil Van Dijk, Gustavo Gómez, Paolo Guerrero, Robert Lewandowski, Federico Valverde and Tomás Rincón. Gundogan and Casemiro, however, voted for Haaland.

Among the coaches who voted first for the Argentine are, among others, Eduardo Berizzo (Chile), Fernando Diniz (Brazil), Néstor Lorenzo (Colombia), Mauro Bielo (Canada) and Aleksandar Jankovic (China). Meanwhile, among the journalists, the Argentine representative continues to be my colleague Claudio Mauri, from La Nación. Bocha voted in this order: Gundogan, Haaland and Messi. Last year their votes were for Messi, Benzema and Mbappé.

Also in the top ten was another Argentine, Julián Alvarez, who placed seventh with 21 points. Furthermore, fourth was the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne with 32, fifth the Nigerian Osimhen with 24, sixth the Spanish Rodri with 24, eighth the Portuguese Bernardo Silva with 18, ninth the German Gundogan with 13 and tenth the Georgian Kvaratskhelia with 7, who surpassed by the captains’ vote to the Croatian Brozovic.

The award for best player once again went to the Spanish Aitana Bonmatí, while the award for best coach went to Pep Guardiola (City); coach, Sarina Wiegman (England); goalkeeper Anderson (City and Brazil); goalkeeper, Mary Ears (United and England); Puskas for best goal, Ghilherme Madruga (Botafogo); and Fair Play, Brazil; and the best fan, Toto Iñiguez, of Colón de Santa Fe.

The ideal men’s eleven was composed of: Thibaut Courtois (Belgium and Real Madrid); John Stones (England and Manchester City), Kyle Walker (England and Manchester City), Ruben Dias (Portugal and Manchester City); Bernardo Silva (Portugal and Manchester United), Jude Bellingham (England and Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium and Manchester City); Erling Haaland (Norway and Manchester City), Kylian Mbappé (France and PSG), Leo Messi (Argentina and Inter Miami), Vinícius (Brazil and Real Madrid).

And the ideal women’s eleven, like this: Mary Ears (England Manchester United); Olga Carmona (Spain and Real Madrid), Lucie Bronze (England and Barcelona), Alex Greenwood (England and Manchester City); Keira Walsh (England and Barcelona), Alessia Russo (England and Arsenal), Lauren James (England and Chelsea), Ella Toone (England and Manchester United), Aitana Bonmatí (Spain and Barcelona); Alex Morgan (USA and San Diego Wave), Sam Kerr (Australia and Chelsea)