Haaland, Messi, Mbappé…? The winner of The Best award for FIFA 2023 will be announced tomorrow. Late. It arrives two and a half months after the awarding of the Ballon d’Or, which besides having the advantage of its name (a thousand times more impressive than The Best) strikes first. Gianni Infantino, due to the non-renewal of his contract with France Football, lost the use of his name and now FIFA’s recognition does not have the same significance.

It is worth pointing out that the election period is from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023. It does not include the World Cup. The strange, or unusual, thing is that performance in the last four and a half months of 2023 is not taken into account, and the recognition is awarded deep into 2024. Within that period, Erling Haaland is the first choice. There should not be an iota of doubt. Winner of the triple title with Manchester City – League, Cup and Championship -, the author of a series of goals, all in his first year in English football. Their individual merit is based on their joint functioning. Haaland could never achieve such goals at Salzburg or Borussia Dortmund. In City, he has found the perfect habitat to show all his Goliath gluttony. Guardiola’s team, who dominate 70% of the play in every game they play and who create hundreds of scoring chances throughout the season. Android was a phenomenon, although it is clear: City does not win because of Haaland but with Haaland.

Monumental work, for whom…?

The young Norwegian is criticized for not showing himself in the end in the same way as at the beginning or in the decisive matches. All because he did not score goals in the definition of the FA Cup and in the semi-final and final of the Champions League. He had no better luck at some classics in England. But that is still a premature assessment. This can be said if it is repeated throughout his career. No one can seriously argue that it shrinks in tough matches. Not yet. He just didn’t feel like it. More significant is the failure with the team with which he was left out of the last World Cup and the European Championship that will be held in June in Germany. 24 enters the Euro Cup, the team that has a super star should qualify. They were eliminated in a group consisting of chocolate ice cream: Spain, Scotland (both qualified), Georgia and Cyprus. He did not score against Spain, an important team in the group, but scored one against Scotland, and that was from the penalty spot. For the 2022 World Cup, they were left out against the Netherlands, Turkey, Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar. He took Norway on loan, but what he did at City puts him above all in 2023.

A new era in football begins

Kylian Mbappé is part of the bottom three more because of his size as a footballer than what he did during his eligibility period. During 2023, he scored a good number of goals, but hardly added one title: the champion of the French league, which is almost an obligation for Paris Saint Germain due to the scandalous supremacy over the other participants. He is the one with the least chance of winning it. In fact, we did a poll on Twitter and he came in third at a measly 6%. Already 25 years of age and nine seasons in the Premier League, Kylian must step on the accelerator if he is to win any of these awards. With what it does, it’s not enough.

The second discovery of America

The other sharing the podium is Lionel Messi. The World Cup no longer counts. For that achievement, he won The Best the previous year. In 2023, like Mbappé, he won the French league and also won the Ligue Cup with Inter Miami. However, the most significant thing about him in 2023 was the revolution he made in American football and sports with his arrival in Miami. The “Messi Effect” made the world look at MLS. It planted a flag and dazzled the American public, setting box office, audience and marketing records. In the worst team of the tournament…! And then there is his playing, at a level of magic and excellence that no one can match. The rest are scorers like Haaland or powerful like Mbappé. And the award for the best is not only awarded for goals. Beckenbauer, one of the gods of this sport, was not a shooter. For now, Erling or Kilian can take The Best from Messi, not the world number 1 throne.

A new era in football begins

In the period in which The Best is chosen, Haaland scored 34 goals, Mbappé 27, and Messi 24, including club and representative goals. The difference is smaller than it seems.

Haaland, Messi, Mbappé, the same shortlist as for the Ballon d’Or. In that case it was well won by Messi because it included the World Cup. In the last edition, The Best considered the 2022 World Cup. No more names. Despite the valiant efforts of Madrid fans, that industry without holidays that always lives in spasm with a few merengues (in the first half of the year it supported Vinicius, now Bellingham), there are no new stars who deserve to win a statuette of such significance. Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool defender turned Sky Sports television commentator, was consulted by Vinicius and also responded sharply: “What has he done this season? He did the numbers for Real Madrid in the joke league… what did Madrid win? “He didn’t even win LaLiga.” And he defended Messi’s 2023 Ballon d’Or: “I chose him for MLS, he was scoring incredible goals.”

The reality is that if Messi withdraws from these awards, as he already announced on October 30 in Paris, football will be left without “the best in the world”. It is often a mistake to call someone who had a great season “the best player in the world”. However, that mark is for those who have maintained it for a long time. Today, Messi’s successor is not in sight, no one is as complete in technique, genius, creation of attacking maneuvers, vision of the game, dribbling, goals, assists.

“There is no formal succession of the best in the world. When Pelé retired, it was empty for a long time. There is no possible comparison of Messi with others. Messi has a goal, dribbling, imagination, fantasy, judgment, goal pass, he can be a strategist. The rest have one or two of those things and nothing more,” says Ricardo Vasconcellos Figueroa, sports editor of El Univers, in Guayaquil.

Others can be “best of the season”, as happened earlier with Belanov, Figo, Shevchenko, Nedved, Cannavaro, Rivaldo, Kaka, Lewandowski, many. The public doesn’t even remember many of them, others, like Lewandowski, won two years ago and are almost forgotten. “Worldly” is a huge and all-encompassing label that doesn’t fit everyone. They can stand out one year for goals or titles won, not for the excellent quality of their play. Leo shines, as he did in the United States or at the start of the qualifiers, where he scored two sensational goals against Peru and another novel against Ecuador. Some counter audiences are tired of seeing him at these ceremonies, but his master class is second to none. For that you have to go back to Pelé or Maradona. (OR)