Luka Modric has claimed The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018 award ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah (and dare I say it at risk of being murdered, Lionel Messi), but that contentious decision pales compared to everything else that unfolded at a star-studded gala (sans Messi and Ronaldo) in London on Monday evening.
Congratulations, Luka Modric
Winner of #TheBest FIFA Men's Player 2018 #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/D489MswXug— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
The FIFA FIFPro World 11 was also named as follows:
GK: David de Gea (although Thibaut Courtois won The Best FIFA Goalkeeper 2018?)
RB: Dani Alves
Dani Alves nominated in the 2018 FIFA World XI despite starting just 23 out of 38 league games,only being involved in the Champions League until the last 16 stage & missing the World Cup entirely
The clearest sign yet that these awards are picked on reputations, not performances— Premier League Panel (@PremLeaguePanel) September 24, 2018
CB: Sergio Ramos
CB: Raphael Varane
LB: Marcelo
LM: Eden Hazard
CM: Luka Modric
CM: N’Golo Kante
RM: Lionel Messi (although Salah made the shortlist for Best Men’s Player and Messi didn’t?)
ST: Kylian Mbappe
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo
What a team
Your FIFA @FIFPro @World11 #TheBest #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/KLisY7B2y4— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2018 somehow went to Marta, who collected the award for the sixth time despite having a pretty down year by her own monstrous standards. The 32-year-old is obviously the greatest women’s footballer of all time, but she only scored four goals and tallied four assists for the Pride throughout the 2018 season (as compared to, say, the 14 goals and five assists recorded by Lynn Williams of the title-winning NC Courage).
Lyon manager Reynald Pedros was named The Best FIFA Women’s Coach for leading the club to its third straight Champions League crown, but Ada Hegerberg was edged by Marta despite scoring 15 goals in the competition (almost twice as much as the competitions second leading scorer).
It doesn’t make any sense.
Congratulations, Marta
Winner of #TheBest FIFA Women's Player 2018 #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/aCxCn2TIFy— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) September 24, 2018
The winner of the 2018 Puskas Award is also a joke, but at least it makes sense: With the award determined by fan voting, Liverpool’s beloved Mohamed Salah won the award for this curler against Everton.
The goal that won @MoSalah the #Puskás#TheBest #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/KwAvwA8zGK
— Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) September 24, 2018
Congratulations, @MoSalah
The Egyptian wins the FIFA #Puskás Award 2018 #TheBest #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/4r0kQojnH5— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
That goal wasn’t even in the nine nominations for the 2017-18 EPL Goal of the Season, and it probably wasn’t better than Gareth Bale’s overhead kick vs. Liverpool, Ronaldo’s bicycle vs. Juventus, Benjamin Pavard’s stunning volley against Argentina or Riley McGree’s sensational scorpion kick vs. Melbourne City, but whatever.
Anyway, Didier Deschamps took home manager of the year.
Congratulations, Didier Deschamps
Winner of #TheBest FIFA Men's Coach 2018 #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/fGPE4tOMaL— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
And in some actually great and heartwarming news, Lennard Thy won The FIFA Fair Play Award for missing a match for VVV-Venlo against PSV to donate stem cells to help a Leukemia patient.
Congratulations, Lennart Thy
Winner of The FIFA Fair Play Award 2018 #TheBest #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/pW5ETt2Kmd— #TheBest (@FIFAcom) September 24, 2018
And here are the fashion awards.
The FIFA Best Hat For Concealing A Small Mouse Like In Ratatouille: Ronaldinho
#FIFAFootballAwards
Ronaldinho 100% smoked a blunt before this. pic.twitter.com/0dAHKOqRKU— Man Like Diogo (@Dalot_Era) September 24, 2018
The FIFA Best Fallen Angel: Dani Alves
Only Dani Alves could pull off that suit #TheBest pic.twitter.com/f6cPFFRlt2
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) September 24, 2018
The FIFA Best End Of The Gareth Southgate Waistcoat Jokes: Idris Elba
Idris Elba is hosting the FIFA Football Awards and is wearing a waistcoat with pictures of Gareth Southgate wearing a waistcoat on it because Idris can do whatever he wants to do. pic.twitter.com/qLjwrODA25
— Miriti Murungi (@NutmegRadio) September 24, 2018