The Ballon d’Or may be the most prestigious award in soccer, butThe Bestawards by FIFA have its fair share of prestige as well. If not, just look at all the noise itslatest edition has made.
Karim Benzema seemed to disagree with the results, sharing on Instagram a post that showed all his achievements in 2022. Lionel Messi seemingly hit back by posting pictures of himself with the World Cup trophy.
Many other personalities in world soccer looked unhappy withthe awards, though Zlatko Dalic took it to the next level. The Croatian national team coach decided not to cast votes after feeling his team was disrespected.
Zlatko Dalic boycotted FIFA The Best Awards by not voting
Croatia made a surprising run to the Qatar 2022 semifinals, claiming the bronze medal in the third-place match against Morocco. Only a few months before, theyhad secured a place in the UEFA Nations League final four. Even so, most of their members were overlooked at The Best awards. Therefore, Dalic didn’t feel like participating in the vote.
“I am disappointed with FIFA’s attitude towards the Croatian team. I believe that, based on everything we have achieved, we deserve more respect from the governing body of world football than what we have received,” Dalic said in a statement, as quoted by As. He backed up his argument by mentioning Croatia’s results in the last few years, including their shocking wins over Brazil or Belgium in 2022. Far from done, he also felt the likes of Mateo Kovacić, Joško Gvardiol and Dominik Livaković should have been nominated.
“Look at the list of the 14 players nominated for The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award. Apart from Luka Modrić, where are the other Croatian players? I don’t want to say any of the others don’t deserve it because I have tremendous respect for each player or coach that has been dominated. But is there really no room for Mateo Kovacić? Where is Gvardiol?And doesn’t Livaković deserve to be one of the five finalists for Best Goalkeeper after everything he did in Qatar?,” he added.
Dalic also believes he should have made the cut for The Best Coach award, suggesting his job was underrated by the governing body. Croatia’s coach added he had already feltdisrespected at the World Cup, citing “controversial” refereeings to prove his point. In the end, Dalic didn’t mean to disrespect any of the winners or nominees but he still believes Croatia deserved better.
“Taking all of that into consideration, I have decided not to vote in this year’s awards. Still, I want to congratulate all the winners on their well-deserved awards,” Dalic said.