There was a recent announcement in the football world, which may or may not have raised much of an eyebrow. The FIFPro, which is the association of professional footballers, announced a list of, wait for it, 55 players from which eleven will be voted into the best team of 2011. This certainly is not up there with the prestige of the Ballon d'Or which has also just had its final shortlist announced. You just wonder where all of this is heading. Award after award after award. With so many token awards for footballers around, does it all devalue the actual winners of these things? Why so many awards. Why so much ego stroking? Alright, there is nothing wrong with crowning a player as the best footballer in the world, but why all the pretence and confusion surrounding such big nomination lists to start with?
The list which has produced for example has come from the votes from over 50,000 professional footballers who were polled. All well and good you would think, but looking down the list of players here up for the award, you simply have to scratch your head and wonder just what games some of these players were watching to even contemplate voting for some of the names on that list. This really is taking awards to the pointless extreme.
Players know how good they are, what they have achieved. While there is only ever one winner of a yearly award, such big nomination lists simply offer a slap in the face to those who don't win. Nope, come back next year as you're not good enough now, and let's parade that fact in front of the world and its baying media.
The most obvious confusion around all this voting for the FIFPro World XI 2011 is the inclusion of Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand. Really? Ferdinand managed just 19 Premier League appearances last season for his club and just four international appearances, with no goals and no assists. Alright, that's not his job, but was he really so brilliant in so few games to warrant a nomination?
Those lowly figures were the sum of his 2010/11 season and this season he has been slacking off with just 15 matches in total for his club, and not on the England radar. So how does someone like this even register in someone's mind to put in a vote for him? It is somewhat baffling, as you think of some of the best defenders in the world; you think Maicon, Pique, Nesta, Alves and Abidal. You don't immediately think of penciling Rio Ferdinand into the back line of a world's best eleven.
With award nominations such as Ferdinand's here, they are more likely than not just based on, "Oh he's had a great career, a bit past it now, but let's give him a pat on the back." There is no truth or value in his nomination, there is no-one, fellow professional or not, who can say Ferdinand deserves to be in such a highly regarded crowd vying for a spot in the World's Best XI.
The way to look at it is this, if you were picking a World's best eleven to and play a match, would Ferdinand be anywhere near the squad? No. Bottom line. Would he even be the water boy? No, because he would probably injure himself running from the dug out to the touchline. His presence alone in this field of 55 almost cheapens the award by itself. Clearly he is not going to make the shortlist, let alone the team for this one. But what really makes a mockery of Ferdinand's inclusion in the World's best eleven, is that he was not even on the initial shortlist of 23 for the Ballon d'Or this season, which is recognition for the world's best player. Eric Abidal was there. Dani Alves was there. Gerard Pique was there. Ferdinand? Again, no. So it will probably always remain a mystery as two who nominated him. Bet any money it was someone wearing a Manchester United shirt though.
Barcelona have eleven players in the running to make the team, six of which made last year's best eleven; Pique, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa. But we won't find out until next January as to who makes the final eleven at the FIFA Golden Ball gala. Bet any money that Lionel Messi will be in the team. In a world of handing out awards just for tying up your own boot laces correctly, this is one man who deserves all the praise which can be heaped upon him. He will win the Ballon d'Or over Xavi and Cristiano Ronaldo again, giving the little Argentinean his third consecutive title to put him up there with the greats Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten who all earned three of these awards.
That is the kind of company which Messi's name deserves to be kept with, not Ferdinand's. If you were going to name your best team, you would pretty much just pick Lionel Messi anyway. You really wouldn't need Ferdinand or anyone else.
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