Ballon d'Or 2023 | Messi wins for 8th time

That would benefit Haaland, hugely because there's no way Haaland would get these votes had they watched the games as he was ghosting in every single semi-final & final in 2023, the voting period ends on August 20, 2023.

Note that Mbappe also voted for Messi as no.1 while Deschamps put him at no.3 By your logic, they shouldn't even rank him anywhere with their focus on Ligue 1. Yeah, I understand Mbappe is a teammate, but he didn't have to choose him at no.1, could easily put him at no.2 or 3 just like Messi did for Mbappe.

I would put Rodri or KDB at the top spot, that would be more understandable, but when it's Messi vs Haaland the ghost, the choice is really easy for me. Many top players and coaches probably felt the same way.
However big games Haaland ghosted, it's still better than what Messi has done during that specific period of time. Whoever went for Messi ahead didn't do it objectively
 
That would benefit Haaland, hugely because there's no way Haaland would get these votes had they watched the games as he was ghosting in every single semi-final & final in 2023, the voting period ends on August 20, 2023.

Note that Mbappe also voted for Messi as no.1 while Deschamps put him at no.3 By your logic, they shouldn't even rank him anywhere with their focus on Ligue 1. Yeah, I understand Mbappe is a teammate, but he didn't have to choose him at no.1, could easily put him at no.2 or 3 just like Messi did for Mbappe.

I would put Rodri or KDB at the top spot, that would be more understandable, but when it's Messi vs Haaland the ghost, the choice is really easy for me. Many top players and coaches probably felt the same way.
Stop embarrassing yourself.


Seriously these individual player fanboys have to be the biggest dark spots for this game. Whether it is Cristiano fanboys with their rigged and robbed comments or Messi fanboys blindly defending Messi's win without valid logic.

Even Messi didn't took award seriously.
 
Quality control
Stop embarrassing yourself.


Seriously these individual player fanboys have to be the biggest dark spots for this game. Whether it is Cristiano fanboys with their rigged and robbed comments or Messi fanboys blindly defending Messi's win without valid logic.

Even Messi didn't took award seriously.

Why are you triggered so much by a "non-serious" award?
Does it hurt you that I agree with the judgment of 117 top players, captains, coaches etc? Nobody cares about your opinion.

Go and tell them they are the biggest dark sports, below is a part of the list, good luck.

Partial Blind Messi Fanboy List

Kylian Mbappé
Mohamed Salah
Harry Kane
Luka Modric
Neymar
Federico Valverde
Robert Lewandowski
Virgil Van Dijk
Romelu Lukaku
Andy Robertson
Jan Oblak
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Falcao
Granit Xhaka

Brazil NT coach
Italy NT coach
Portugal NT coach etc.
 
Why are you triggered so much by a "non-serious" award?
Does it hurt you that I agree with the judgment of 117 top players, captains, coaches etc? Nobody cares about your opinion.

Go and tell them they are the biggest dark sports, below is a part of the list, good luck.

Partial Blind Messi Fanboy List

Kylian Mbappé
Mohamed Salah
Harry Kane
Luka Modric
Neymar
Federico Valverde
Robert Lewandowski
Virgil Van Dijk
Romelu Lukaku
Andy Robertson
Jan Oblak
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Falcao
Granit Xhaka

Brazil NT coach
Italy NT coach
Portugal NT coach etc.
Yes nobody cares about my opinion, but your opinion that Messi deserved it is hilarious.


I don't have anything against Messi, infact I have always acknowledged that he is the greatest and deserved all of his Ballon D'ors, but this one isn't deserved as he didn't do anything great in between 2022 December 19 till 2023 August 20.

Yes this award is given because many players, coaches and media personnel voted for him in thier top 3, but to say he was a deserving winner bases on his performances during the period by posting most dribbles, chance created and other stats is hilarious of you.

Carry on fanboying, clubs are looting you guys for your glory hunting tendencies, keep getting exploited
 
Why are you triggered so much by a "non-serious" award?
Does it hurt you that I agree with the judgment of 117 top players, captains, coaches etc? Nobody cares about your opinion.

Go and tell them they are the biggest dark sports, below is a part of the list, good luck.

Partial Blind Messi Fanboy List

Kylian Mbappé
Mohamed Salah
Harry Kane
Luka Modric
Neymar
Federico Valverde
Robert Lewandowski
Virgil Van Dijk
Romelu Lukaku
Andy Robertson
Jan Oblak
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Falcao
Granit Xhaka

Brazil NT coach
Italy NT coach
Portugal NT coach etc.

Partial Blind Haaland fanboy list:

Messi

There’s no need to shit on other players to boost Messi. Messi is the best ever in my opinion, Haaland is never going to be as good as Messi. Don’t know anyone who thinks that. But as 750 journalists, Messi and a lot of people here think, Haaland was the best player last year.

It’s like you’re pre-disposed from the Ronaldo-Messi days to create conflict where there isn’t any. No need to say ridiculous things like ‘there are 100 players better than Haaland’. Accept he’s good at football too.
 
Yes nobody cares about my opinion, but your opinion that Messi deserved it is hilarious.

My opinion is the same as 117 other footbal experts including Modric, Kane, Mbappe, Salah, Van Dijk etc. etc.

Go tell them that their opinion is hilarious, that they voted for the wrong person. I'm sure they will be amazed and convinced by your "non-hilarious" arguments.
 
Partial Blind Haaland fanboy list:

Messi

There’s no need to shit on other players to boost Messi. Messi is the best ever in my opinion, Haaland is never going to be as good as Messi. Don’t know anyone who thinks that. But as 750 journalists, Messi and a lot of people here think, Haaland was the best player last year.

It’s like you’re pre-disposed from the Ronaldo-Messi days to create conflict where there isn’t any. No need to say ridiculous things like ‘there are 100 players better than Haaland’. Accept he’s good at football too.

Fair enough and many voted for Haaland. I am not calling football experts "morons" for voting for Haaland or any other player.

It's the other way round, people calling Messi voters "morons" using insults. That's when people like me began reacting, no need to insult other people. And if you start doing that, then you get a reaction, simple as that.
 
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My opinion is the same as 117 other footbal experts including Modric, Kane, Mbappe, Salah, Van Dijk etc. etc.

Go tell them that their opinion is hilarious, that they voted for the wrong person. I'm sure they will be amazed and convinced by your "non-hilarious" arguments.
We don't know the reasoning behind their vote. But your is public and hilarious.

Seriously you are a clear case of fanboys having low comprehensive skills and not understanding what the other person is saying. I don't care that Messi won FIFA Best Player for 2023. My issue is you trying to make it like he won based on his performances during the eligible time frame. Players voting may have voted for legacy like people did in the inaugural Ballon Dor for Matthews. But you trying to make it like Messi actually was the best player of the year 2023 based totally on performances is a classic example of fanboys being fanboys and trying to clutch straws. You are no better than Cristiano fanboys who believe that world is against their crybaby idol.
 
Heraklion if your position is that all the football experts can't be wrong then I assume you agree with their judgment that Messi was merely the 5th best player in the world in 2018.
 
Why did the Fifa best thread dissapear and now we are discussing the award in the Ballon Dór thread?
 
Heraklion if your position is that all the football experts can't be wrong then I assume you agree with their judgment that Messi was merely the 5th best player in the world in 2018.

You cornered him there.
 
Heraklion if your position is that all the football experts can't be wrong then I assume you agree with their judgment that Messi was merely the 5th best player in the world in 2018.

That's a poor take. Everyone's got their own take on awards, right? Experts are all over the place with their opinions going for different players. So, that poster has just picked a side, like you did. Saying "all the football experts can't be wrong" doesn't really hold up because he already disagrees with some experts who went for a different player. So he is not even arguing "all the football experts can't be wrong" because he already disagrees with many by picking Messi. That's your strange assumption.

The problem is you are calling Messi voters clueless. Posters then react showing that their views are shared by tons of football experts that include some of the very high profile players. That's why they emphasize experts' opinion as a reaction. They probably wouldn't even mention experts if you didn't call their views moronic, clueless etc.

As for 2018, I, for example am in agreement with those experts that voted for Messi in 2018 as a top player. That doesn't prevent me from being on the side of the experts that voted for Messi this year. The difference is I didn't call other voters clueless in 2018.
 
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That's a poor take. Everyone's got their own take on awards, right? Experts are all over the place with their opinions going for different players. So, that poster has just picked a side, like you did. Saying "all the football experts can't be wrong" doesn't really hold up because he already disagrees with some experts who went for a different player. So he is not even arguing "all the football experts can't be wrong" because he already disagrees with many by picking Messi. That's your strange assumption.

The problem is you are calling Messi voters clueless etc. and then posters react showing that their views are shared by tons of football experts that include some of the very high profile players. That's why they emphasize experts' opinion as a reaction. They probably wouldn't even mention experts if you didn't call their views moronic, clueless etc.

As for 2018, I, for example am in agreement with those experts that voted for Messi in 2018 as a top player. That doesn't prevent me from being on the side of the experts that voted for Messi this year. The difference is I didn't call other voters clueless in 2018.

I cant really speak on @Iker Quesadillas behalf even though I might understand what he´s on too. There is no basis for awarding Messi the best player in the world for 2023. What earned him the Ballon Dór was what he did mainly in 2022 with PSG and Argentina he got what saw as the ultimate send off with a record 8th and golden ball for that and the WC. I think to a large extent it was merited but I also saw it as a lifetime achievement award and he got all the claps and applauses in the end. To crown him the best player in the world in 2023 makes no sense. He already got his lifetime achievement award. He smashed it in the MLS,but didnt play much due to injury and and their different season calendar. But also what any player does in outside the top european leagues in club football shouldnt matter at all.
 
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I cant really speak on @Iker Quesadillas behalf even though I might understand what he´s on too. There is no basis for awarding Messi the best player in the world for 2023. What earned him the Ballon Dór was what he did mainly in 2022 with PSG and France and he got what saw as the ultimate send off with a record 8th and golden ball for that and the WC. I think to a large extent it was merited but I also saw it as a lifetime achievement award and he could all the claps and applauses in the end. To crown him the best player in the world in 2023 makes no sense. He already got his lifetime achievement award. He smashed it in the MLS,but didnt play much due to injury and and their different season calendar. But also what any player does in outside the top european leagues in club football shouldnt matter at all.

The cut-off date was August. This is key as I don't think Messi would win if that covered the whole calendar year.

Mbappe was no.3 in FIFA Best with similar goal contribution stats in the same league.
Messi was picked as the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker no.2 only behind KDB based on playmaking stats last week for 2023.
He led Europe in per game ratings, MOTM and playmaking metrics.
MLS Cup was a cherry on the cake.

This was not a spectacular season for Messi as all will agree, Far from that, but even his below average seems to be enough to impress many people. And against Haaland, I can see why it was an easy decision for many.
 
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They weren't. Haaland was. I doubt they could care less about this award.
I bet they care; having the "best player in the world" is good for business(meaning sportwashing).
 
FIFA Best were always voted by the players though. In previous eras we barely had footballers who blew away the competition like these two have done.

To suggest FIFA or Ballon D'or are somehow rigging the award is silly. And let's be honest, no matter how much people cry, Ribery wasn't robbed the 2013 Ballon Dor, Sneijder wasn't robbed the 2010 Ballon Dor.

Also FIFA Best and Ballon Dor both started with stupidly naming Lothar Matthaus and Stanley Matthews as the inaugural winners, when neither actually achieved much in that particular time frame. So two awards which started badly, how can people blame Messi and Cristiano for that. Even if we purely base the awards on stats, Messi and Cristiano would still have the highest numbers of these awards. Even if we cut off stats and base on it on reputation, both of these still would have more. Unless people just want to not award the two, and just award a single player from teams winning UCL or International titles during the year, it is a different thing. But that would hilariously mean we are ignoring the "Best Player" thing.

Regardless of who you think should have won in 2013, Ribéry was robbed for the single reason that they reopened the voting after it had been closed because they didn’t like who had won.

Blatter was getting a lot of hate back then for his Messi good boy Ronaldo commander comment. And they clearly did Ronaldo a favour by reopening to get the heat off Blatter
 
A good example of how good footballers understand the point of this award (and, especially, the time frame):

https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...el-messi-beating-erling-haaland-to-fifa-award

Interviewer: So, the window for this vote was between the 19th of December 2022 and the 20th of August 2023. With that in mind do you think that Messi did more than Haaland in that period?
Obi Mikel: I think he did. If you were telling somebody like I've always said, with complain (I think that's what he said, it was phrased weirdly — harms) and said: "But he hasn't won the World Cup"... that was the only question. He hasn't won the World Cup with Argentina, he hasn't won it with Argentina... but then he won the... is it the Copa America, same year he won the Copa America (he won it in 2021 — harms) he won the World Cup (he won it in 2022 — harms). Come on! Come on!
 
The problem is you are calling Messi voters clueless. Posters then react showing that their views are shared by tons of football experts that include some of the very high profile players. That's why they emphasize experts' opinion as a reaction. They probably wouldn't even mention experts if you didn't call their views moronic, clueless etc.

I don't think I've called Messi voters clueless, morons, etc. I said they are "wrong", because they are.

I don't think they're wrong simply because of their conclusion (which I disagree with). I think they are wrong because I am certain that the vast majority of these players have not seen more than 5 Messi games in 2023.
 
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A good example of how good footballers understand the point of this award (and, especially, the time frame):

https://www.skysports.com/watch/vid...el-messi-beating-erling-haaland-to-fifa-award

Interviewer: So, the window for this vote was between the 19th of December 2022 and the 20th of August 2023. With that in mind do you think that Messi did more than Haaland in that period?
Obi Mikel: I think he did. If you were telling somebody like I've always said, with complain (I think that's what he said, it was phrased weirdly — harms) and said: "But he hasn't won the World Cup"... that was the only question. He hasn't won the World Cup with Argentina, he hasn't won it with Argentina... but then he won the... is it the Copa America, same year he won the Copa America (he won it in 2021 — harms) he won the World Cup (he won it in 2022 — harms). Come on! Come on!

Messi's copa and wc wins were still outside the timeframe for the voting period. That's why using what Messi did before the 19th december still doesnt make sense.
 
Messi's copa and wc wins were still outside the timeframe for the voting period. That's why using what Messi did before the 19th december still doesnt make sense.
Yeah, that's kind of my point.
 
Messi winning is not scandalous or an injustice or a conspiracy. It's just voters caught being lazy, which they've always been.
 
Mbappe was no.3 in FIFA Best with similar goal contribution stats in the same league.
He was also, notably, voted Ligue1 player of the season. Over Messi.
Messi was picked as the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker no.2 only behind KDB based on playmaking stats last week for 2023.
Soooo...he was behind a guy who won everything in one particular stat by one particular organization. Yeah, that seems like good reasoning for why he should win over the guy who was better than him and won everything...
He led Europe in per game ratings, MOTM and playmaking metrics.
Which ones? Because he didn't even win a single player of the month award at PSG in 2023

MLS Cup was a cherry on the cake.
Ah yes, the MLS Cup. Which his team didn't even compete in

just so we are clear: nobody was impressed by Messi's year. People voted Messi because he's Messi, not because of what he did in 2023. It's laughable to even pretend otherwise

Btw: aren't PSG currently under investigation for buying votes for Messi in one of these awards?
 
Voters mainly NT captains and coaches are just lazy, don't understand and/or don't care about the voting. Messi is the bigger brand so he won. That's all it is.

Doesn't matter what Messi did or didn't do, he's the best regardless. The GOAT of this generation. Messi did nothing wrong but just gets rewarded as a result of being so good over his career.

Fanboys, mainly Ronaldo ones, use moments like this to cry, call on conspiracies, rigging and try to get neutrals on their side to hate on Messi as a form of therapy to cope with the lifetime reality their hero will always be seen as second best. Messi is no. 1 win or lose.

Ronaldo is lucky to even have 5 Ballon D'ors. He only deserves 2 - 2007/08 and 2016/17 season.

Btw: aren't PSG currently under investigation for buying votes for Messi in one of these awards?

Nah that's just some lobbying which every club does for their player for their Ballon D'or chances. Your club are the biggest lobbyers for the award as papa Perez and his fanboys are obsessed with it. When PSG does it, it's somehow wrong.
 
The fact that journalists voted for Halland tells the story. He deserved this award. Players watch very few games, they don't care or don't have the time, that's not their job unlike journalists. Some of them don't even understand the time frame of awards. Their reasoning is basically "Messi? He's the best, man".

Messi winning this in 2023 is just as absurd as him winning the golden ball at the 2014 WC. 100% commercial.
 
Voters mainly NT captains and coaches are just lazy, don't understand and/or don't care about the voting. Messi is the bigger brand so he won. That's all it is.
Players and Coaches don't think in terms of "who was the best performer in this time period". They think in terms of who is the best, in more absolute terms. Messi wins because he's Messi, and the majority of players still think of him as the best. Whether his performances within a specific time frame merit such consideration or not is irrelevant. Coaches pay more attention, but have to play politics to a higher degree. Also some are just weird morons. And fans are fans
Doesn't matter what Messi did or didn't do, he's the best regardless. The GOAT of this generation. Messi did nothing wrong but just gets rewarded as a result of being so good over his career.
Exactly
Nah that's just some lobbying which every club does for their player for their Ballon D'or chances. Your club are the biggest lobbyers for the award as papa Perez and his fanboys are obsessed with it. When PSG does it, it's somehow wrong.
Is it? I read somewhere they were under investigation for actually buying votes. Which is a bit different from lobbying
 
The cut-off date was August. This is key as I don't think Messi would win if that covered the whole calendar year.

Mbappe was no.3 in FIFA Best with similar goal contribution stats in the same league.
Messi was picked as the IFFHS World's Best Playmaker no.2 only behind KDB based on playmaking stats last week for 2023.
He led Europe in per game ratings, MOTM and playmaking metrics.
MLS Cup was a cherry on the cake.

This was not a spectacular season for Messi as all will agree, Far from that, but even his below average seems to be enough to impress many people. And against Haaland, I can see why it was an easy decision for many.
After reading your reasonings, it’s pretty obvious KDB should win it. Afterall he was no. 1 in IFFHS Works’s best playmaker or whatever matrix you might think it’s the most relevant, and he did won the treble too which was bigger cherry on the cake than MLS cup perhaps (maybe MLS cup is bigger achievement to you, I wouldn’t know)
 
He was also, notably, voted Ligue1 player of the season. Over Messi.
Because he is the golden boy of France,
Messi had the most MOTM in whole Europe, highest per game rating by far, by far a better playmaking, dribbling, chance creation stats etc. He had 40 g&a in 39 games whereas Mbappe 42 in 45, almost the same. Messi had a lot of issues with the club, fans etc. never liked like Mbappe there, the guy was basically hated there by the fans. Even his WC win against France was a source of tension.

www.onefootball.com/en/news/players-with-most-man-of-the-match-trophies-in-europe-in-2223-including-messi-haaland-37660873

Soooo...he was behind a guy who won everything in one particular stat by one particular organization. Yeah, that seems like good reasoning for why he should win over the guy who was better than him and won everything...
Sooooo.. he was above that guy in per game ratings, most MOTM awards, dribbling stats, big chance creation stats etc. Imagine thinking being 2nd in a category prevents you from being the best player. I always say Rodri or KDB should be the top contenders for this award for City not Haaland the ghost tap-in merchant. When it is Haaland vs Messi, the choice is clear, it's very difficult for many experts to choose a 10 touches per game player that ghosts in every single semi or final as the best player in the world.

just so we are clear: nobody was impressed by Messi's year. People voted Messi because he's Messi, not because of what he did in 2023. It's laughable to even pretend otherwise
source: a random poster and Real supporter that talked to each of 117 voters many of whom also voted for Messi last year too. I'm pretty sure they will buy your conclusion. Are you among those Real fans protesting club legends Modric and Valverde online asking them to leave Real for voting for Messi?

Btw: aren't PSG currently under investigation for buying votes for Messi in one of these awards?
They were alleged to give game tickets for Ferre, Ballon D'or organizer in 2020-21 when Messi spent most his time at Barca. Ferre voted for Lewa against Messi, such an influence:lol: Ferre and PSG both reject that allegation.

Your club and Perez are the biggest influencers in the world by far when it comes to awards, pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem for Perez to arrange game tickets for privileged journalists.
 
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The fact that journalists voted for Halland tells the story. He deserved this award. Players watch very few games, they don't care or don't have the time, that's not their job unlike journalists. Some of them don't even understand the time frame of awards. Their reasoning is basically "Messi? He's the best, man".

Messi winning this in 2023 is just as absurd as him winning the golden ball at the 2014 WC. 100% commercial.

When Messi won Ballon D'or where all the voters were journalists, some (mostly Ronaldo fans in pain) said it's rigged and Fifa Best is the most objective because players/coaches who know football better than anyone else also vote.

Now that, Messi won FIFA Best this time with players' votes, the narrative changed, all of a sudden journalists' views are more important, this isn't even funny anymore.
 
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Voters mainly NT captains and coaches are just lazy, don't understand and/or don't care about the voting. Messi is the bigger brand so he won. That's all it is.

Doesn't matter what Messi did or didn't do, he's the best regardless. The GOAT of this generation. Messi did nothing wrong but just gets rewarded as a result of being so good over his career.

Fanboys, mainly Ronaldo ones, use moments like this to cry, call on conspiracies, rigging and try to get neutrals on their side to hate on Messi as a form of therapy to cope with the lifetime reality their hero will always be seen as second best. Messi is no. 1 win or lose.

Ronaldo is lucky to even have 5 Ballon D'ors. He only deserves 2 - 2007/08 and 2016/17 season.

Many captains and coaches that already voted for Messi last year after the WC voted for him again this year or put him at top-3.

Modric for ex voted for Messi as no.1 this year, and no.2 last year behind Benzema right after Messi’s WC win. Kane, Salah, Lewa, Van Dijk, Dzeko, Kjaer, Xhaka etc. all voted for Messi last year and this year. Odegaard, Tadic put him at no.1 last year, and at no.2 this year.

So, the conspiracy idea that "they don't know what they voted for..., they must have wrongly thought the award period covers the WC " is BS.

But the funniest of all is to see Ronaldo fans acting as the biggest social justice warriors since 2018.. the biggest Van Dijk supportes in 2019, Lewa supporters in 2021, Mbappe supporters before the WC final and now the biggest Haaland supporters are all shy-Ronaldo fans. Not to mention the biggest anti-Modric fans are all Ronaldo fans again harassing poor guy on a daily basis for voting for Messi.

Even City fans aren't that passionate about their players or these awards... never saw such a pathetic fanbase before, at this point, they're a meme..
 
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Regardless of who you think should have won in 2013, Ribéry was robbed for the single reason that they reopened the voting after it had been closed because they didn’t like who had won.

Blatter was getting a lot of hate back then for his Messi good boy Ronaldo commander comment. And they clearly did Ronaldo a favour by reopening to get the heat off Blatter
Again a conspiracy theory. No one actually knows why the voting was reopened. FIFA officially said: It was due to lack of votes. The conspiracy theory started because Platini joked that FIFA did it to please Cristiano. So it was also a baseless myth based on Platini's joke. Just like FIFA rigged the 202w World Cup for Messi, because Van Gaal said so.
 
Again a conspiracy theory. No one actually knows why the voting was reopened. FIFA officially said: It was due to lack of votes. The conspiracy theory started because Platini joked that FIFA did it to please Cristiano. So it was also a baseless myth based on Platini's joke. Just like FIFA rigged the 202w World Cup for Messi, because Van Gaal said so.

You're missing two "little" details.

1. FIFA extended the deadline right after (1 day after) Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Ibra's Sweden in the WC playoffs and took his team to the WC, there was a lot of hype.
2. FIFA gave the option to voters (who already submitted their votes) to be able to change their votes. Why would you do that when the issue is the lack of enough votes? makes zero sense.
 
The fact that journalists voted for Halland tells the story. He deserved this award. Players watch very few games, they don't care or don't have the time, that's not their job unlike journalists. Some of them don't even understand the time frame of awards. Their reasoning is basically "Messi? He's the best, man".

Messi winning this in 2023 is just as absurd as him winning the golden ball at the 2014 WC. 100% commercial.

Footballers, captains and coaches at the highest level dont watch football? The one sport they are passionate about. And they do have time. Being pro is probably more time consuming now, but they dont train all day long.
 
Footballers, captains and coaches at the highest level dont watch football? The one sport they are passionate about. And they do have time. Being pro is probably more time consuming now, but they dont train all day long.

It depends really, you have players like Carragher who watch lots of football and can't get enough of it, then you have other players that have admitted that watching football in their spare time is the last thing they want to do, they want to get away from it. Coaches would watch a lot of football and understand it (at least you'd hope).
 
It depends really, you have players like Carragher who watch lots of football and can't get enough of it, then you have other players that have admitted that watching football in their spare time is the last thing they want to do, they want to get away from it. Coaches would watch a lot of football and understand it (at least you'd hope).

Yeah, but if there is one player you would tune in to watch it would be Messi. Or perhaps Ronaldo.