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#2 Too much controversy
As stated earlier, there is no award ceremony without controversy, but once the controversies continue piling up, it dents the award. That is exactly the case of the FIFA Best Football Awards currently. The controversies are simply one too many, and the worst part is that they can’t be explained.
How Mohamed Salah was nominated in the top three but failed to make the FIFPro World XI is a mystery, how Thibaut Courtois won the FIFA Best Goalkeeper and still lost out in the team of the year to David de Gea is even more surprising. And finally, Marta winning the women’s player of the year over Ada Hegerberg remains confusing.
Awards are meant to encourage competition, but it doesn’t bode well if controversies begin to overshadow the real winners. I don’t think any player would be happy to win an award that is being debated by everyone around him.
Such a scenario would only depict an award that has no relevance, and unfortunately that is the direction The Best FIFA Football Awards is currently heading.
