WTF FIFA: Liverpool SNUB proves 'The Best' awards are a JOKE

FIFA’s ‘The Best’ awards have long been a popularity contest designed to satisfy the egos of the football players who weren’t good enough to win the Ballon d’Or the season before.

A subjective ‘best player in the world’ award makes sense. Most sports do it and there is a purpose to crowning someone year on year.

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‘The Best’ seems to be, at best, an ego-driven mess. And this year is no better.

It’s worth saying, at this juncture, that the criteria for the nominations is “The contenders have been selected based on their performances from 21 August 2023 to 10 August 2024. Here, FIFA highlights each player’s standout achievements during the qualifying period.”

The list of the 11 male players nominated are:

Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, Rodri, Vinicius Junior, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Dani Carvajal, Fede Valverde, Toni Kroos, Florian Wirtz and Lamine Yamal.

Which, of course, leaves a Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk-shaped holes at the bare minimum.

We understand that this was based entirely on last season, and next season’s awards will look drastically different if these first few months are anything to go by, but to suggest that Dani Carvajal, Fede Valverde, Toni Kroos and Florian Wirtz were all better players than Salah and Van Dijk last season is simply laughable.

The two Reds remain the best - and don’t pardon the pun - players in their position in the world. Yamal is a stunning talent, don’t get us wrong, but if Mo Salah was performing at his level we’d be talking about how he’s having the worst season he’s had in almost a decade and how it’s a sign that he’s past it.

And there haven’t even been any centre-backs nominated, which should call into doubt the validity of this awards nonsense regardless.

And that’s before we get on to the fact that Lionel Messi plays in MLS. Why not throw in Christian Benteke while we’re at it? He scored more goals than Messi did over in the States this season.

Messi was presumably included for winning the Copa America - one goal and one assist - but Alexis Mac Allister is nowhere to be found? That despite the fact he excelled in his first season at club level at Anfield, even picking up his first major trophy with the club in the Carabao Cup.

FIFA continues to snub Liverpool

Alisson also isn’t nominated for Best Goalkeeper (again, despite being acknowledged as the best goalkeeper in the world for a few years now).

Newly-signed Giorgi Mamardashvili IS included in the long list for the Best FIFA Men's 11 although maybe if he'd moved on a permanent basis to Liverpool last summer then FIFA might have found reason to exclude him.

Incredibly of 77 male players nominated across several positions for the Best FIFA Men's 11, Mamardashvili is the ONLY Reds-affiliated player nominated.

It's clear Arsenal are flavour of the month at FIFA Towers with serial winners like David Raya, Gabriel, William Saliba, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard all put forward.

Oh, and someone over there thinks Ollie Watkins is better than Salah.

The Puskas Award for best goal involves Liverpool-linked Mohammed Kudus dribbing around three players (with only one giving a half-attempt to tackle him) before putting it into the net.

But no mention of - among many others - Alexis picking out the top corner from 35 yards against Fulham. No, if you beat one tackle, you’ve scored the best goal in the entire world.

But next season it will all be different. Kylian Mbappe just got embarrassed by Conor Bradley at Anfield, Real Madrid are screaming, crying and throwing up for Trent Alexander-Arnold to replace Carvajal, Toni Kroos is lying on a beach and Florian Wirtz spent Leverkusen’s trip to Merseyside a few weeks back doing cardio.

It’s a joke of an awards ceremony run by a joke of an organisation.

And if Ryan Gravenberch isn’t lifting that award this time next year it will have to be boycotted for eternity.

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