Last updated: 16.01.2024, 05:36 a.m.
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Thierry Henry accepts the trophy in place of the absent Lionel Messi. © Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
That was close. It is not Erling Haaland who is the guarantor of the world, but Lionel Messi. The fact that the Argentine won is down to the captains.
London - Erling Haaland got the most points from Ilkay Gundogan, Bayern player Harry Kane was for Lionel Messi. The vote for the World Player of the Year on Monday evening in London was decided by a razor-thin margin in favour of Messi - and the first votes of the national team captains were decisive. Here, the 36-year-old Messi was clearly ahead of the 107-year-old Haaland (23) with 64 first votes.
At the glamorous gala in London, Messi's announcement caused astonishment and irritation in the hall, as the audience had mostly expected Haaland to receive an award. The applause in the Hammersmith Apollo was extremely restrained. On social media, some users complained that the award ceremony had lost its credibility.
"If you don't include the World Cup that made Messi the winner of the Ballon d'Or, Messi can't be the winner this time. I think he was the best footballer of the last 20 years, but he hasn't won any major titles with Paris and Miami, where he's now causing a lot of hype," said Lothar Matthäus, World Player of the Year in 1991, on Sky.
Nagelsmann voted for Mbappé
But it was close. Messi, the Argentine World Cup winner, had received a total of 48 points in the vote of the world governing body FIFA, like the Norwegian Haaland. In FIFA's voting system, the captains of the national teams, their coaches, media and fans are entitled to vote in equal shares. Five points are awarded with the first vote, three with the second vote and one point with the third vote.
In total, Messi received 677 points from the captains, 476 from the coaches, 315 from the media and 613,293 from the fans. Haaland scored 13/11 from the captains, 11/13 from the coaches, 557/11 from the media and 541,13/729 from the fans. Mbappé is third on 13 points. Gündgoan finished ninth in the final standings with 365 points.
France's Mbappé chose Messi. The Argentine was also elected by Belgium's Romelu Lukaku, Edin Dzeko of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia's Luka Modric, Denmark's Simon Kjär and Egypt's Mohamed Salah, among others. By the way, national coach Julian Nagelsmann voted for the third finalist, Mbappé, and chose Gündogan in second place and Haaland only in third. Dpa