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At the end of each FIFA World Cup tournament, few players and teams are rewarded for their brilliance performances along with various attributes. These awards include the Golden Ball, The Golden Boot, The Golden Glove, Best Young Player of the Tournament and FIFA Fair Play award. We take a look at the statistics of the winners as well take a look back in the past
#1 Golden Ball
The Adidas Golden Ball is given to the best player of the tournament. This time, the Golden Ball was awarded to Argentinas captain Lionel messi for his outstanding performances at Brazil 2014.
Player | Games | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
Lionel Messi | 7 | 693 | 4 | 1 |
Thomas Mueller | 7 | 682 | 5 | 3 |
Arjen Robben | 7 | 690 | 3 | 1 |
Apart from the Golden Ball, FIFA awards Silver ball and Bronze ball for the most outstanding players behind Golden Ball winner. Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben won the Silver and Bronze ball respectively.
Previous 5 Winners of Golden Ball:
Year | Country | Player |
1994 | United States | Romario (BRA) |
1998 | France | Ronaldo (BRA) |
2002 | Korea/Japan | Olivier Kahn (GER) |
2006 | Germany | Zinedine Zidane (FRA) |
2010 | South Africa | Diego Forlan (URU) |
#2 Golden Glove
The Golden Glove goes to the tournament's most outstanding goalkeeper who at Brazil 2014 was deemed to be Germany's Manuel Neuer.
Manuel Neuer’s statistics in the FIFA World Cup 2014:
Matches | Minutes | Attempted Clearances | Save Rate | Passes Completed |
7 | 690 | 9 | 86.2% | 82.2% |
Prior to 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Golden Glove used to be called as the Yashin Award in the memory of late Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin. The award started from 1994 and Germany’s Olivier Kahn is the only player to win both Golden Glove and Golden Ball awards in 2006.
Previous 5 Winners of Golden Glove
Year | Country | Player |
1994 | United States | Michel Preud'homme (GER) |
1998 | France | Fabian Barthez (FRA) |
2002 | Korea/Japan | Olivier Kahn (GER) |
2006 | Germany | Gianluigi Buffon (ITA) |
2010 | South Africa | Iker Casillas (ESP) |
#3 Golden Boot
The Golden Boot, also termed as Golden Shoe is given to the top goalscorer of the tournament. At Brazil 2014, it was Colombia’s James Rodriguez who was on the receivng end of this award. Those who finish as runners-up in the amount of goal scored, receive Silver Boot and Bronze Boot. In FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil, Thomas Mueller and Neymar Jr won the Silver and Bronze Boot respectively.
Player | Matches | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Penalties |
James Rodriguez | 5 | 399 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
Thomas Mueller | 7 | 682 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
Neymar Jr | 5 | 457 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
If there is more than one player with the same amount of goals, the tie breaker goes to the player who has contributed more assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie breaker goes to the player who has played the least amount of time. Lionel Messi and Robin van Persie both scored the same number of goals as of Neymar Jr (4) but the Brazillian won the Bronze Boot due to less time on the pitch. Russia’s Oleg Salenko is the only player to win the award, playing for a team that were eliminated in the group stages of 1994 FIFA World Cup United States.
Previous 5 Winners of Golden Boot:
Year | Country | Player | Goals Scored |
1994 | United States | Oleg Salenko (RUS), Hristo Stoichkov (BLG) | 6 |
1998 | France | Davor Šuker (CRO) | 6 |
2002 | Korea/Japan | Ronaldo (BRA) | 8 |
2006 | Germany | Miroslav Klose (GER) | 5 |
2010 | South Africa | Thomas Mueller (GER) | 5 |
#4 FIFA Fair Play
The FIFA Fair Play Award goes to the team with the tournament’s best disciplinary record. Only teams that reach the knockout phase are eligible. Colombia won the award this year with their strong and disciplinary performances at Brazil 201. Colombian National team conceded just 5 yellow cards and zero red cards in five matches.
Previous 5 Winners of Fair Play Trophy:
Year | Country | Team(s) |
1994 | United States | Brazil |
1998 | France | England, France |
2002 | Korea/Japan | Belgium |
2006 | Germany | Brazil, Spain |
2010 | South Africa | Spain |
#5 Young Player of the Tournament
The award is given to the best player in the competition who is at most 21 years old. FIFA’s Technical Study group announced Paul Pogba as Young player of the tournament ahead of the likes of his French compatriot Raphael Varane and Netherlands’s Memphis Depay. The criteria used, apart from the fact that players had to be born on or after 1 January 1993, were as follows:
• Exceptional level of skill• Refreshing and youthful style of play• Creativity and inspiration• Tactical maturity and effectiveness• Fan recognition via impressive performances• Role model for young footballers• Positive attitude and advocate for fair-play
Previous Players to win this award:
Year | Country | Player |
1994 | United States | Marc Overmars (NED) |
1998 | France | Michael Owen (ENG) |
2002 | Korea/Japan | Landon Donovan (USA) |
2006 | Germany | Lukas Podolski (GER) |
2010 | South Africa | Thomas Mueller (GER) |
