After a 17-year hiatus, Brazil finally won again, this week, an award for the best in the world in football, among men.
And it wasn’t the one with whom most hopes were placed for about a decade, Neymar, who had the misfortune, despite having played a lot, to compete with Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two geniuses with the ball, each at their peak.
It is important to mention “among men”, as some forget that Queen Marta, after the glory was given to Kaká in 2007, was at the top on no less than four occasions (2008 to 2010 and 2018).
On Tuesday (17), at a ceremony in Doha, Qatar, Vinicius Junior, 24, beat Messi himself – who was not even considered to win this time –, Rodri, Bellingham, Haaland, Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and others four finalists to receive The Best trophy.
This (The Best) is the name that FIFA gives to its annual award, which chooses the most outstanding players of a given season. In this case, 2023/2024.
It is one of the two most anticipated ceremonies of its kind. The other is the Ballon d’Or, organized by the French magazine France Football, much more traditional, as it has existed since 1956. FIFA began awarding awards in 1991.
Long awaited, but at least once discredited. In the event before this, the winner as best player, Messi, did not attend the party (and did not even record a thank you video), leaving the presenter, former French star Thierry Henry, completely embarrassed.
Vini Jr. arrived there a month and a half after the frustration of having lost the Ballon d’Or – which to me is much more beautiful than the trophy awarded at The Best – to Spanish midfielder Rodri.
In that vote, the electoral college was much more restricted, made up of one hundred people, all journalists, one from each country that has its team in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings.
In this vote, representatives of the national teams (193 captains and 196 coaches), journalists from 187 countries and, online, thousands of fans spread across the world voted. Each slice had a weight of 25% in the election.
Regarding captains, coaches and journalists, FIFA invites a total of 633 to participate. There is a deadline for voting, and this time 57 voters were absent. If the choice does not arrive in time, it does not enter the calculation.
What impressed most was the popularity of Vini Jr., who had more than 1.147 million points (first place) in the football fans’ choice. His main rival in the dispute, Rodri, scored close to 265,000 points and came in sixth. The people are with the Brazilian.
The same cannot be said about European voters. The majority did not see Vini Jr. as number 1. They voted for The Best 50 captains of national teams from the old continent (the score: Rodri 21, Vini 15, 14 others), 55 coaches (the score: Rodri 29, Vini 9, others 17) and 55 journalists (the score: Rodri 31, Vini 13, others 11).
It is impossible not to consider corporatism, an idea reinforced by the Ballon d’Or result, when, of the 42 participating European journalists, 29 chose Rodri as the best and only 9 opted for Vini Jr., a glaring imbalance.
In The Best, as it’s not just people from Europe who vote, Vini Jr., based on the mathematics contained in the rules, won. It took a while, but those who deserved it most got there.
All that’s left now is for the best in the FIFA world to play for the Brazilian team compared to the greats that play for Real Madrid. 2025 there. We want.
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