Lionel Messi, the revered Argentine footballer, achieved another remarkable accolade by winning the FIFA Best мen’s Player award for the third time, adding to his already impressive collection that includes eight Golden Ball titles. However, there have been inquiries about how he managed to ƅеаt out Manchester City ꜱtгiker Erling Haaland for the award, especially considering that his World Cup victory in 2022 was expected to be excluded from the evaluation. Troels Bager Thorgersen, the editor-in-chief of Tipsbladet, suggests that this voting outcome highlights the argument that players should not participate in the polling process.

Thorgersen expressed his views on the voting process, which has frequently seen Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi emerge as winners. He highlighted how Ronaldo, during his time at Real Madrid, consistently voted for his teammates before shifting his support to Robert Lewandowski in 2020 and 2021. Similarly, Messi has shown a bias towards teammates at FC Barcelona and the Argentine national team, even voting for his rival Ronaldo and awarding top points to Luka Modric of Real Madrid in 2018.

Thorgersen emphasized that this pattern of superstar players favoring their teammates and national teammates skews the voting results, seemingly driven by loyalty. He noted that Danish national team captains and coaches have been exceptions to this trend, never voting based on club loyalties.

While Thorgersen acknowledged that his own choices, such as valuing players like Kevin De Bruyne and defensive-minded individuals, have caused disagreements, he emphasized the importance of taking voting responsibilities seriously. In his opinion, the recent outcome of awarding Messi as The Best winner is absurd, considering that the 2022 World Cup was not considered, leaving voters to base their decision on Messi’s performances for half a season at PSG and half a season at Inter Miami. He criticized this as a jоkе and an unserious approach, suggesting that world stars should not be involved in such votes if they are to be taken seriously.