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At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game.
There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA Technical Study Group:[1][2]
the Golden Ball (currently commercially termed "adidas Golden Ball") for best player, first awarded in 1982.
the Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "adidas Golden Boot", formerly known as the "adidas Golden Shoe" from 1982 to 2006) for top goalscorer, first awarded in 1982;
the Golden Glove (currently commercially termed "adidas Golden Glove", formerly known as the "Lev Yashin Award" from 1994 to 2006) for best goalkeeper, first awarded in 1994;
the FIFA Young Player Award (formerly known as the "Best Young Player Award" from 2006 to 2010) for best player under 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year, first awarded in 2006;
the FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team that advanced to the second round with the best record of fair play, first awarded in 1970.
There is currently one award voted on by fans during the tournament:
the Player of the Match (currently commercially termed "Budweiser Player of the Match", formerly known as the "Man of the Match" from 2002 to 2018) for outstanding performance during each match of the tournament, first awarded in 2002.
There are currently two awards voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament:
the Goal of the Tournament, (currently commercially termed "Hyundai Goal of the Tournament") for the fans' best goal scored during the tournament, first awarded in 2006;
the Most Entertaining Team for the team that has entertained the public the most, during the World Cup final tournament, as determined by a poll of the general public.
One other award was given between 1994 and 2006:[3]
an All-Star Team comprising the best players of the tournament chosen by the FIFA Technical Study Group. From 2010 onwards, all Dream Teams or Statistical Teams are unofficial, as reported by FIFA itself.
The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee (Technical Study Group) and the winner voted for by representatives of the media.[4] Those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively. The current award was introduced in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, sponsored by Adidas and France Football.[5]Oliver Kahn is to date the only goalkeeper to have won the award, which he did in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Lionel Messi became the first player to win a second Golden Ball.[6]
A group of journalists and experts selected the best player of the 1978 tournament,[8] and their selection is recognised by the FIFA website. FIFA recognises only this selection besides the Golden Ball award. Hans Krankl received the same number of votes as Dirceu at the time,[8] and was not chosen as the third best player by FIFA later.
Authoritative football historian and statisticianEjikeme Ikwunze, popularly called "Mr. Football", published a list of the best players in his book World Cup (1930-2010): A Statistical Summary,[11] and it gained the most attention among experts' selections about the best players until 1978. This work is part of the official FIFA library.[12] A considerable number of other media agreed with him.[13][14][15][16]
On 2 August 1950, Dr. Friedebert Becker [de], the editor-in-chief of Kicker (then Sport-Magazin), chose his best players of the tournament.[17]
In 1998, the Argentinian newspaper Clarín provided a brief description of each star player dating back to 1930. Some are controversial decisions as is the case with retrospective awards. The 1998 winner was awarded after the tournament ended.[19]
The Golden Boot or Golden Shoe award goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. While every World Cup had a ranking of the goalscorers, the first time an award was given was in 1982,[7] under the name Golden Shoe.[5] It was rechristened Golden Boot in 2010.[43] FIFA sometimes lists the top goalscorers of previous Cups among the Golden Boot winners.[44]
If there is more than one player with the same number of goals, since 1994 the tie-breaker goes to the player with more assists. If there is still more than one player, the tie (since 2006) is decided by minutes played in the tournament, with the player playing fewest minutes ranked first. A Silver Boot and a Bronze Boot are also awarded for the second and third-highest goalscorers respectively.
^FIFA initially credited Nejedlý with only four goals, which would make him joint top scorer with Angelo Schiavio of Italy and Edmund Conen of Germany. However, FIFA changed it to five goals in November 2006, making Nejedlý the outright top scorer.[47]
^FIFA initially credited Leônidas with eight goals. However, in November 2006, FIFA confirmed that in the quarter-final tie against Czechoslovakia, he had scored once, not twice as FIFA had originally recorded, meaning he had scored only seven goals in total.[47]
^There was controversy regarding the number of goals Brazilian Ademir had scored in 1950, as a result of incomplete data concerning the Final Round game Brazil vs. Spain (6–1). The 5–0 goal had been credited to Jair, but is now credited to Ademir.[48][49]
^Salenko is the only player to win the award playing for a team that were eliminated in the group stage. His six goals are the only international goals he ever scored.
^Despite the assist tiebreaker, Salenko and Stoichkov remained tied with six goals and one assist each, and both received the Golden Shoe.[52]
^Both runners-up had the same number of assists, and each received the Silver Shoe.
^During the tournament, after the group stage match against Costa Rica, Ronaldo logged a protest against the crediting of a goal as an own goal, and FIFA granted him the change.[56]
^ abEight players had scored three goals. Ronaldo, Crespo and Zinedine Zidane stood out for having one assist, and then the two recipients were determined by less playtime (308 minutes for Crespo, 411 for Ronaldo, 559 for Zidane).[58]
^ abcMüller, Villa, Sneijder and Diego Forlán tied with five goals. Müller won by virtue of having more assists (three) than the rest (each had one). Villa won the Silver Boot due to playing fewer minutes than Sneijder, and Sneijder won the Bronze Boot due to having played fewer minutes than Forlán.[59]
^Neymar, Lionel Messi and Robin van Persie all had four goals in the tournament. Neymar received the Bronze Boot for playing fewer minutes than his competitors (480; Messi played 693 minutes, and Van Persie, 548).[60]
^ abGriezmann, Lukaku, Denis Cheryshev, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé tied with four goals. In the assists tiebreaker, Griezmann won the Silver Boot by virtue of having two, while Lukaku got the Bronze Boot as he had one. The rest had zero.[61]
^Giroud and Julián Álvarez tied with four goals. Giroud won the Bronze Boot due to playing fewer minutes than Álvarez.[62]
The Golden Glove award is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name "Lev Yashin Award" in 1994, in honor of the late Soviet goalkeeper.[7] It was rechristened "Golden Glove" in 2010. The FIFA Technical Study Group recognises the top goalkeeper of the tournament based on the player's performance throughout the final competition. Although goalkeepers have this specific award for their position, they are still eligible for the Golden Ball as well, as when Oliver Kahn was awarded in 2002.[63]
The FIFA Young Player Award ("Best Young Player Award" 2006–2010) was awarded for the first time at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and given to Germany's Lukas Podolski.[64] The award is given to the best player in the tournament who is at most 21 years old. For the 2022 World Cup, this meant that the player had to have been born on or after 1 January 2001.
In 2006,[65] the election took place on FIFA's official World Cup website with the help of The FIFA Technical Study Group.[66]
FIFA organised a survey on the Internet for users to choose the "Best Young Player" of the World Cup, between 1958 and 2002, named the best young player of each tournament.[67] With 61% of the overall vote, the winner was Pelé, who finished ahead of the PeruvianTeófilo Cubillas, the best young player at Mexico 1970, and England's Michael Owen, who reached similar heights at France 98.[68][69]
The FIFA Fair Play Trophy is given to the team with the best record of fair play during the World Cup final tournament since 1970. Only teams that qualified for the second round are considered. The winners of this award earn the FIFA Fair Play Trophy, a diploma, a fair play medal for each player and official, and $50,000 worth of football equipment to be used for youth development.[73]
The appearance of the award was originally a certificate. From 1982 to 1990, it was a golden trophy based on Sport Billy, a football-playing cartoon character from 1982 who became an icon for FIFA Fair play.[74][75] Ever since 1994, it is simply a trophy with an elegant footballer figure.[76]Peru was the first nation to win the award after receiving no yellow or red cards in the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico.[77]
Peru's FIFA Fair Play trophy award. Peru won the award after receiving no yellow or red cards in the tournament.
The Player of the Match (POTM) award picks the outstanding player in every match of the tournament. The award was introduced with the name "Man of the Match" in 2002. It was rechristened "Player of the Match" in 2022.
While the inaugural two editions were chosen by the technical group,[78][79] since 2010, Player of the Match is picked by an online poll on FIFA's website.[80][81][82]
The Most Entertaining Team award is a subjectively awarded prize for the team that had done the most to entertain the public with a positive approach to the game, organised through public participation in a poll[7] starting in 1994.[43]
The All-Star Team is a team of the best performers at the respective World Cup finals. Since 1994, FIFA decided to add official best squads, chosen by its Technical Study Group under the brand name MasterCard All-Star Team.[85] For 1998, 2002 and 2006, substitute and reserve members were also nominated for full squads.
There are rumours about "official" World Cup All-Star teams across the internet. The same teams have been published on many websites including football.sporting99.com, worldcupbrazil.net, talksport[91] and thesoccerworldcups.com. It is unclear where these teams originated, but the earliest they can be found on the internet was in the October of 2011 on the football.sporting99.com website.[92]
In 1990, there was an All-Star Team announced in combination with the Golden Ball ceremony. It was chosen by the same journalists who chose the best player, but this team is still considered unofficial.[140][141]
After FIFA changed its sponsor from MasterCard to Visa in 2007,[142] it published Team of the Tournament based on statistical data of other sponsors, which evaluates players' performances. FIFA explained these are not official.[143]
^ ab
"Romario is voted the top player of World Cup '94 and winner of the FIFA/adidas Golden Ball award; Salenko and Stoichkov tie as leading scorers for World Cup USA '94". Business Wire. 17 July 1994. [FIFA] has announced Oleg Salenko (Russia) and Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) as [...] winners of the prestigious adidas Golden Shoe award [...] who made six goals and one assist each. Kennet Andersson (Sweden) with 5 goals and 3 assists, will receive a Bronze replica of the Predator [...] Throughout World Cup '94, three points were awarded for each goal scored and one point for each assist leading to a goal, with a maximum of two assists per goal. Assists are only taken into account if two or more players scored the same number of goals.
^"1994 FIFA World Cup Technical Report"(PDF). FIFA Technical Group. 1994. p. 82. Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 January 2010. In Kenneth Andersson they had one of the most prolific scorers in their ranks - he was jointly awarded the "Bronze Shoe" for the third best goal-scorer, together with Brazil's Romário.
^"Castrol Index Top 11". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
Argentina
Italy
Brazil
West Germany/Germany
France
Croatia
Uruguay
Netherlands
Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
South Korea
Spain
Dirceu[10]
Bert Patenaude
Oldřich Nejedlý
Edmund Conen
Angelo Schiavio
György Sárosi
Estanislau Basora
Sándor Kocsis
Josef Hügi
Erich Probst
Flórián Albert
Valentin Ivanov
Garrincha
Dražan Jerković
Leonel Sánchez
Eusébio
Geoff Hurst
Jairzinho
Teófilo Cubillas
Grzegorz Lato
Roger Milla
Oleg Salenko[d]
Kennet Andersson
James Rodríguez
Antoine Griezmann
Gianluigi Buffon
Landon Donovan
Keisuke Honda
Mexico
South Korea[83]
Gyula Grosics
Robert Gadocha
Serbia
