The Daily Bee (December 18, 2020): On this year’s FIFA Awards

Good morning, Fear the Wall.

While Borussia Dortmund hurriedly work to adjust to the new playing style of caretaker coach Edin Terzic, our good ol’ pals over at Bayern Munich are focusing on other, more important things, like who wins the glorified popularity contest that is FIFA’s “The Best” Awards. In this year’s edition, Bayern’s Manuel Neuer won “Goalkeeper of the Year”, and Robert Lewandowski won “Player of the Year”. Even so, Bayern fans are outraged because FIFA awarded the title of “Best Coach” to Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp, for carrying Liverpool FC to their first club title in 30 years.

While Hansi Flick probably does deserve it more than Jürgen Klopp, you also must recognize that these awards are inherently dumb and illogical, and because they’re voted on by media representatives and national team coaches, are just as likely to be awarded to someone who represents a narrative and who is liked, than they are to someone who actually earned it through achievement. Even Bayern fans will probably admit that Klopp has multitudes more charisma and gravitas than Hansi Flick, meaning he’s naturally going to draw more media attention. Let’s not forget, taking Liverpool to the club’s first Premier League title in three decades is also a massive achievement.

So did FIFA’s voters make the right choice? I say no, Flick probably deserved to win, but I certainly won’t shed any tears over it, and I encourage Bayern fans to do the same. Just because your players don’t win every award under the sun doesn’t mean the world has an agenda against you.

Anyway, I’m taking the GRE today, so that’s all I’ve got to say. I won’t be able to catch the match against Union Berlin. Heja BVB!

The Daily Buzz

What did you think of this year’s FIFA awards?