THE BEST AWARDS
Why did David Alaba vote for Messi instead of Real Madrid teammate Benzema at Best FIFA Awards 2022?
Madrid defender David Alaba was one of 211 national team captains who voted for The Best FIFA Men’s Player.
It has become one this year’s Best FIFA Football Awards’ biggest talking points: Real Madrid defender David Alaba voted for Lionel Messi in the Best FIFA Men’s Player category ahead of club teammate Karim Benzema. Having received plenty of criticism since the news came to light, the Austria captain took to social media to explain the reasoning behind it.
Alaba explains Best FIFA Awards snub for Karim Benzema
“Regarding FIFA The Best Award: The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone. Everyone in the team council is able to vote and that’s how it’s decided. Everyoe knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances and I have often said that for me his the best striker in the world, and that is still the case. Without doubt”.
The Austrian national team roster voted Messi top ahead of Benzema, with Kylian Mbappé coming in third spot. The vote, however, was officially recorded as coming solely from captain Alaba.
How does voting in The Best FIFA Football Awards work?
Voting is done in two phases. Firstly, a “group of experts” representing FIFA and external interest groups form a list of preselected candidates for each category. Each member chooses who they consider to be the three best players, coaches and goalkeepers. Once the whole process is finished, a list of the eleven best players, the five best goalkeepers, and the five best coaches is obtained.
From there, the second phase begins. Four groups are formed (each of which represents 25% of the total vote): the captains of the 211 national teams that are FIFA members (the same for the women’s teams), the coaches of those 211 countries, a “specialised journalist” representing each national team, and, finally, the general public, who can vote on FIFA.com. The most voted candidate in each category receives five points, second receives three points and third receives one point.
It appears, therefore, that Austria captain Alaba has his international teammates to thank for what may well have been a frosty reception from Benzema at Real Madrid training on Tuesday morning.