Son Heung-min favoured Messi over Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe for The FIFA BEST award
FIFA has released details of the voting done by country captains and we have Heung Min Son’s top three! The Tottenham forward has taken the captain’s armband for Korea in 2019.
He favoured Lionel Messi to win the 2023 FIFA BEST, followed by Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. Messi and Haaland were both tied at 48 points but the former bagged the award based on captains’ votes.
Heung Min Son has always been an admirer of the Argentine and played his part in the latter taking the coveted accolade home. Messi had an incredible run with his national side, helping La Albiceleste win the World Cup.
He also won the best player award in the tournament. While it was quite evident that Messi’s exploits with the national team would win him The Best Men’s Award, some also expected Erling Haaland to win it. The Manchester City forward had a sensational campaign winning the treble for the Sky Blues.
Detailing the narrow battle
As we know, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland were tied at 48 points. It is natural to have the doubt — Why did Messi win it then? Well, the answer is simple. There is a clause in the vote counting regulation that states “*As per the Rules of Allocation(art. 12), Lionel Messi (Argentina) won the Award on the basis of the votes cast by the men’s national team captains.”
Erling Haaland beat Leo Messi when it came to Coaches and Media points. The Norwegian bagged 541 (Coaches points) and 729 (Media points) as opposed to Messi’s 476 and 315. However, the Argentine captain leapt over his rival when it came to Captains’ and Fans’ votes.
Messi’s staggering 613,293 Fans’ points and 677 Captains’ points were enough to outdo Erling Haaland’s 365,893 and 557. Even though the Manchester City starlet missed out on winning the trophy, he likely has a better chance of winning it in the future than Messi.
More Tottenham Hotspur News-
- The Lane Opinion- Three Players Tottenham should track at the Asian Cup
- Three AFCON stars Tottenham Hotspur should take a look at this January
- ‘Nervous’ Timo Werner says he wanted more from Tottenham Hotspur debut vs Man United
Messi is now a part of the Inter Miami team while Haaland continues to thrive with Man City. The only viable threat is Kylian Mbappe who boasts a strong presence within the club and country.
