Vinícius Júnior and Aitana Bonmatí go to FIFA awards and best footballers

DOHA (AP) – Vinicius Junior, Real Madrid’s astronomer, gives the last part of an important prize global as a jugador.

The brasileño was named on Tuesday the player of the year in the “The Best” de la FIFA awards, where the Barcelona volante, Aitana Bonmatí, continued to dominate the femenina awards.

Vinicius, the 24-year-old, felt so disappointed in October after losing the Ballon d’Or vote to Manchester City’s Spanish midfield player Rodri, who boycotted the South American team as much as his team in protest.

This time Rodri came second, a cinco puntos de Vinícius. The Brazilian striker was at the FIFA ceremony to collect his award after traveling to Doha on Monday with Madrid for the final of the Intercontinental Cup that will be played this Wednesday against Pachuca de México.

“No sé siquiera por dónde comenzer”, said Vinícius. “Todo esto era tan lejano que parácia imposible.

“Yo era un niño que simplemente jugaba descalzo al fútbol en las calles de São Gonçalo, cerca de la pobreza y la delincuencia. Estar aquí es muy importante para mí, porque hago que muchos niños vean que no es imposible llegar”.

The Brazilian futbolista also expressed it on the social network Instagram, where he discretely launched a dart to the voters of the Ballon d’Or —journalists from the countries that occupy the 100 first positions in the FIFA ranking.

“Hoy le escribo a ese niño que vio a tantos ídolos levantar este trofeo… Tu momento ha llegado”, he wrote. “O más bien, mi momento ha llegado, el momento de decir… sí, soy el mejor futbolista del mundo y he peleado duro por ello.

“He tratado y siguen tratado de invalidarme, de menospreciarme, but no están preparados. Nadie va a decirme por quién debo pelear ni cómo debo comportarme”.

Vinicius has since sujeto a series of racist insults in España. En algún momento de este año dijo que había perdido el deseo de jugar, but prometíó seguir luchando.

Bonmatí won the award for the best player of the year, achieving consecutive trophies in the FIFA version of the Ballon d’Or, an older and more prestigious award. Ambos galardones estuvien alguna vez unificados.

The 26-year-old Catalan player has won the Golden Ball for two consecutive years. Conquistó la liga y la copa españolas, as como la Liga de Campeones de Europa con Barcelona in 2024.

Otro que repitió galardón Emiliano Martínez, del Aston Villa and de la selección Argentina, elegido el mejor archero del año.

Tambian Argentine Alejandro Garnacho is a big part of the Premio Puskas, with the Chileans exposed to Manchester City ahead of Everton in 2023.

Marta consiguió el trofeo que lleva su nombre. The primer Premio Marta se le entregó por el tanto que consiguió con Brasil ante Jamaica en junio.

La FIFA indicated that the winners of the prizes were decided by a “sistema de votación weighted in an equal manner” for the aficionados, the actual captains and trainers of all the national selections, and representatives of the press.

Hubo has a list of 11 finalists for both awards. The contenders were selected based on their performance from August 21, 2023 to August 10, 2024.

Vinícius had the best season of his career, scoring 24 goals and 39 appearances with Madrid and helping the Spanish team extend their record with a 15th European Cup.

For Vinícius it was his second trophy of the Liga de Campeones.

También anotó en el encounter por el título, convirtiendoez en el jugador más joven en marcar en dos finales de la Liga de Campeones.

The Englishman Jude Bellingham, partner of Vinicius in Madrid, came third, ahead of Dani Carvajal and Lamine Yamal.

The Argentine Lionel Messi — quien había ganado el premio los dos años anteriores — se ubicó ahora en el sexto lugar.

Carlo Ancelotti, coach of Madrid, was named the best coach. La seleccionar de Estados Unidos, Emma Hayes, se levó el premio en la rama femenina.

Hayes led the selection to the Olympic gold medal in Paris in August. Her porter, Alyssa Naeher, received the prize for the best of the year in that position.

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This story was translated into English by an AP editor with the help of a tool for artificial generative intelligence.