Western media: FIFA's reputation is discredited! At the moment of Messi's award, the audience was silent and collectively dumbfounded

In the early morning of January 16, Beijing time, the FIFA ceremony was held at the Apollo Opera House in central London, and Messi beat Haaland to win the World Footballer of the Year award.

Messi's award also caused controversy: the FIFA award reference time is from December 19, 2022 to August 20, 2023, and in these 8 months, Messi's individual performance and team honors are obviously inferior to Haaland. Marca was blunt: FIFA's credibility was lost and it became the biggest loser.

According to Marca, FIFA did not particularly emphasize the performance reference time when voting, and many voters took it for granted that the 2022 World Cup was the most important event in this selection, but it was not. However, professional media reporters know the rules very well, so when it was announced that Messi had won the award, the guests at the scene couldn't believe it.

Castro, a special correspondent for the newspaper Marca, reviews the stories before and after the FIFA festival (all in local time).

9 a.m

Journalists from all walks of life came to London. The media believes that Haaland will be the number one favorite for the world footballer, and during this selection period, Haaland has the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, European Super Cup, and Premier League Golden Boot...... Messi only won the Ligue 1 and the League Cup in the MLS. Marca has ready a copy – Haaland is a big hit......

11 a.m

Reporters have been informed that Haaland will not come to London to attend the FIFA gala. At this time, media reporters began to waver, and it was difficult to say who would win the award.

4 p.m

After many inquiries, the reporter confirmed: Messi is not coming! Haaland is not coming, Messi is not coming, then Haaland is still the number one favorite in the world footballer. Argentine reporters who came to London also thought that Messi had no hope of winning the award. FIFA officials chatted with reporters at the hotel, boasting about how well secrecy had been done......

7:35 p.m

Journalists and guests arrived at the Apollo Opera House, and the festival was about to begin. Messi, Haaland, and Mbappe are the three major candidates, but none of them came! Most people believe that Haaland can win the award.

20:50 p.m

When Messi's name was pronounced, there was silence at the scene, and the unexpected script made everyone at the scene dumbfounded, not knowing how to react, everyone, you look at me, I look at you...... It wasn't until the first applause that the silence and embarrassment were broken.

9:30 p.m

In the hybrid interview area, still no one believed all this. However, few dared to express their honest opinions and surprises, and everyone praised Messi's great football career instead of mentioning a specific period of time (eight months after the World Cup). The 2022 World Cup is not within the scope of the 2023 World Footballer of the Year, and many judges may have forgotten this.

The end of the play. Congratulations to Messi, although, Messi's greatness does not need to be interpreted by the world footballer.