The decision to name Lionel Messi the FIFA Men’s Best Player of 2023 left many disappointed. Earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo had raised questions with the voting procedure that saw Messi edge past Manchester City’s treble-winning striker Erling Haaland to claim the prestigious accolade for the third time in his career.
Spanish football manager Roberto Martinez has now shared his view on the controversial topic, saying that many like him who voted for the award were not aware of the criteria. According to the Portugal national team head coach, there was confusion about whether achievements at the 2022 FIFA World Cup would have been counted. Martinez, who claims to have “made mistakes”, voted for Marcelo Brozovic, considering the Croatian midfielder’s commendable performance in the Qatar World Cup where his team clinched the third spot.
During a recent interaction with A Bola, Roberto Martinez revealed that not only he but some other people also made the same error by giving more importance to the multi-nation tournament, where Messi guided Argentina to the FIFA World Cup title by defeating France in the final.
“It was a mistake. Now we have a lot of votes, we have a lot of elections. We have the FIFA player, The Best player, who has been there all season. The first time we had a World Cup in winter and the voting was strange because it was only for six months,” Martinez told A Bola.
Martinez also feels that individual awards should be meant to recognise those players, who have helped his teams achieve something. “For me, individual awards in football are difficult. I think the individual player represents what the team did. Brozovic is a player who represents an idea of the game, who represents what Croatia is doing. But it was a mistake, for the period in question,” the 50-year-old explained.
Unlike the Ballon d’Or, the FIFA Best award did not have the 2022 World Cup in its voting criteria. It took into account the stats of every player between December 19, 2022, and August 20, 2023. Looking at his performance in that period, Messi scored nine goals for French giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) before adding 10 more to the tally with Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit Inter Miami. Meanwhile, Haaland netted a record 52 goals in all competitions last season and 30 of his strikes came during that designated period.
After the initial counting, Messi and Haaland were tied at 48 points. The Argentine legend, however, was declared the winner based on more first-choice nominations from international captains.
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