The news comes suddenly: FIFA is already honoring the world footballer of 2024 this Tuesday. The world association is deviating from the usual procedure.
Surprisingly, the world football association FIFA has announced the “The Best” awards for the world footballer in 2024. This year's winner will be honored at a special event in Doha this Tuesday.
In this way, FIFA is deviating from the usual procedure. As a rule, a celebratory awards ceremony takes place in January as part of a large gala. But now there will be a gala dinner at which the winners will be announced in digital form, as stated in FIFA's announcement.
The event will be broadcast live on the FIFA website from 6 p.m. The dinner takes place to mark the 20th anniversary of Aspire Academy in Doha. FIFA President Gianni Infantino will receive numerous football dignitaries and FIFA legends, as the world association announced in advance.
World footballer: This is how you can watch “The Best” Award live on TV and stream today
World Footballer Election 2024: Why is there no FIFA gala in January?
The background to the sudden announcement is apparently the difficulty in finding a date. According to Marca, FIFA informed the nominees about the short-term appointment a week before the gala dinner. Accordingly, no suitable alternative date could be found until March.
As is well known, the competition calendar has become increasingly full due to the reform of international cup competitions. For example, the last two matchdays of the league phase of the Champions League take place at the end of January. The first edition of the new Club World Cup will take place in the summer.
The increased number of games also has an impact on the national leagues. For example, the Bundesliga started again on January 10th after a short winter break – with an English week.
World Footballers 2024: Kroos and Wirtz nominated
The Spanish European champion Rodri and star striker Vinícius Júnior from Real Madrid are considered the big favorites. Two Germans also made it onto the eleven-player shortlist: Florian Wirtz and Toni Kroos can also hope for this.
The other nominees are Dani Carvajal, Lamine Yamal, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.
FIFA World Players and Ballon d'Or: What's the difference?
The prestigious Ballon d'Or was awarded at the end of October. The French sports newspaper France football also honors the world footballer. There was a scandal around the gala in Paris. Vinícius, like the entire Real Madrid delegation, boycotted the award ceremony after learning that Rodri, rather than him, would win the award.
From 1982 to 1990, the unofficial title of world footballer was given by the specialist magazine World football awarded, it has only been an official FIFA election since 1991. Between 2010 and 2015, the award was presented jointly by FIFA and the specialist magazine France football awarded as “FIFA Ballon d'Or”.
Since then there have been two separate awards. The “The Best FIFA Football Awards 2024” will officially be presented on Tuesday.
In 2023, Lionel Messi was named World Player of the Year for the eighth time in his career. The Argentine superstar surprisingly won the election ahead of Erling Haaland. However, Messi himself was not present at the gala on January 15, 2025. The award turned into a farce.
“The Best Awards”: Opportunities for Berger and Alonso
Among the women, the Spanish world champion Aitana Bonmati is the big favorite; a German did not make it into the final selection. In addition to the world footballer honors, there are other categories.
Ann-Katrin Berger, the penalty hero in the German team's bronze medal win at the Olympic Games in Paris, is a candidate for the Goalkeeper of the Year award.
Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso can also hope for an award. However, the Spaniard, who led Bayer Leverkusen to the double, named Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid), Lionel Scaloni (Argentina national coach), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Spain's European champion coach Luis de la Fuente in the coach of the year category Competition.
Who will choose the world footballer?
All coaches and captains of the national teams as well as specialist journalists voted for both women and men. Fans were also able to cast their votes online on the FIFA website until December 10th (11:59 p.m.).
With Sports Information Service (SID)
