What’s the story?
Ahead of the Best FIFA Football Awards, which is scheduled for later tonight, Barcelona have announced that four players who are in the running for being crowned tonight will miss the Gala. These players include Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique with all 4 nominated for the FIFA Fifpro World XI and Messi is one of the three shortlisted for the Best FIFA Men’s Player.
Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo – favourite to win the main award tonight – is expected to be present for the grand ceremony.
Here is the statement released by the club:
With the aim of prioritising preparations for Wednesday’s game against Athletic Club, FC Barcelona have decided that the players recognised in the Gala The Best FIFA Awards, which takes place on Monday in Zurich, will not be travelling to Switzerland for the ceremony.
The Club’s delegation is led by president Josep Maria Bartomeu, sporting vice president Jordi Mestre, director Silvio Elías, CEO Òscar Grau, Albert Soler (director of professional sports), Robert Fernández (first team technical secretary) and Raúl Sanllehí (director of football).
In case you didn’t know...
The Best FIFA Football Awards is the international governing body’s initiative to commemorate individuals and teams who were outstanding during the course of the last calendar year. Following the separation of FIFA and France Football, their joint initiative FIFA Ballon d’Or is no longer into existence and instead two awards namely – FIFA Best Player and Ballon d’Or are into place this time.
Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the 2016 Ballon d’Or winner for his outstanding efforts in 2016. The win also marked his fourth Ballon d’Or triumph, which has left him only one short of Lionel Messi’s haul of 5.
The heart of the matter
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann are in the running to be crowned the winner of The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award in an award ceremony which is scheduled to be held in Zurich, Switzerland later tonight at 11:00 PM IST.
The other 3 Barcelona players are in the reckoning for the FIFA Fifpro World XI, which will also be announced during the course of the Gala.
What's next?
Either of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi will sweep the award and we will wait for another year for the same ceremony to crown who was the king of football over the course of the last year.
However, for Barcelona, there are more pressing concerns. Their La Liga title challenge is in tatters following their 1-1 draw against Villarreal last night and they now find themselves 3rd on the La Liga table 5 points behind leaders Real Madrid, albeit having played a game more.
It is in the best interest of the club for the players to focus on on-field activities and let the club delegates to handle the off-field frivolities.
Sportskeeda’s Take
It is a rather good decision by the club to ask their players to focus on the task at hand and forget about the individual accolades, for at the end of the day – football is a team sport and individual success should take a backseat.
That is of course without taking away the glory from the outstanding individuals who elevated the allure of the beautiful game with their non-challant yet graceful displays.
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