Infantino made the comment on the back of a controversial 2024 ‘Ballon d’Or’ gala, which saw Rodri pip Vinicius Jr. to the award
By Kehinde Okeowo
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino has made an attempt to play down the importance of ‘Ballon d’Or’, saying only world football governing body, FIFA, has the ability to determine who is the best player in the world.
The Italian football administrator made this known during the 2024 FIFA The Best Awards on Tuesday night, in an apparently bid to take a swipe at ‘Ballon d’Or’ organizers.
According to him, the leading football body should be the one that decides the best player in the world because of its peculiar voting system.
The ‘Ballon d’Or’ and ‘FIFA The Best’ are two of the world football’s highly coveted individual awards.
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Real Madrid striker, Vinicius Junior was on Tuesday named the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year for 2024, while votes for the award were cast by fans, current captains and coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams, and media representatives.
On the other hand, the Ballon d’Or which was won by Manchester City’s midfielder, Rodri is organized by France Football and voted for by top journalists across the world.
Speaking on the development during the 2024 FIFA The Best award ceremony held in Doha, Qatar, Infantino noted that the award organized by his team is more transparent, objective and all-inclusive.
He said, “If you want to know the best in the world, it should be by FIFA. Because everyone votes, it’s transparent, it’s objective, it’s all-inclusive.”
Infantino’s comments come on the back of a controversial 2024 Ballon d’Or gala, which saw Manchester City’s Rodri pip Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. to the award.