As soon as the final ended, with Argentina’s emotional 4-2 victory on penalties against France —after a 3-3 draw in the 120 minutes—, FIFA began distributing individual prizes, with emphasis on the Ballon d’Or awarded to Messi.
The award, given to the best player of the tournament, was won by the Argentine for the second time. Another of so many historic achievements achieved in the Qatar Cup – the first time was in 2014, in Brazil, when Messi was chosen even with his team losing the title to Germany (1-0, in overtime).
In addition to the Golden Ball, Fifa also announced the winners of the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball, awards that were not handed out in front of the crowd at the Lusail stadium.
The Frenchman Mbappé, Golden Boot as top scorer of the competition (8 goals), was elected the second best player of the tournament. And the Croatian Modric, winner of the award in 2018, completed the podium as third best in the World Cup.
Interestingly, this year the award went to the number 10 of the top three teams, following the same order: Messi (Argentina), Mbappé (France) and Modric (Croatia).
Since Romário’s election to the Golden Ball, in the distant 1994, the winner has not been from the winning team. Since 1998, Ronaldo (runner-up in 1998), German Oliver Khan (runner-up in 2002), Frenchman Zidane (runner-up in 2006), Uruguayan Forlán (runner-up in 2010), Messi (runner-up in 2014) and Modric (runner-up in 2010) have won. in 2018).
The podium of the previous Cup, in Russia, was formed by Modric (Golden Ball), the Belgian Hazard (silver) and the French Griezmann (bronze, and champion with France).
In the other individual awards of 2022, the highlight was the players from Argentina. Check out.
the prizes
- Ballon d’Or – best player: Lionel Messi (Argentina)
- Silver Ball: Kylian Mbappe (France)
- Bronze Ball: Modric (Croatia)
- Golden Boot – top scorer: Kylian Mbappé (France), with 8 goals
- Best young player: Enzo Fernandez (Argentina)
- Golden Glove – best goalkeeper: Dibu Martinez (Argentina)
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