7 of football’s most baffling individual award winners: Palmer, Salah, Modric…
Despite all the talent continuously on show, football admittedly makes plenty of mistakes when handing out top awards to players.
Some will call foul play, others will shout from the heavens that it’s all politics. And while both of those things might be true, what’s also true is that – simply – the decision makers are quite often a little bit stupid.
From honours as prestigious as the Ballon d’Or to awards as self-serving as the ‘Women’s Football Ally of the Year’, we’ve highlighted six of football’s most random and undeserving award winners.
Cole Palmer – England Men’s Player of the Year
There is no denying Palmer’s talent anymore. The Wythenshawe wizard is clearly more than a one-season wonder. In fact, it’s freakish how good he looks now at just 22 years old.
However, he was named the 2024 England men’s Player of the Year for *checks notes* making seven caps in 2024, not starting a single game at EURO 2024 and playing just 145 minutes in total at the tournament.
Granted he assisted the winner in the semi-final from the bench and scored from the bench in the final, this isn’t a criticism of Palmer at all, but more so the decision-makers.
If England’s best player is someone who only played 145 minutes at the Euros, how bad are the rest of them?
Jermaine Jenas – Women’s Football Ally of the Year
Even before recent developments which have only further made this one age like milk, the world was stunned when Jenas was randomly named ‘Women’s Football Ally of the Year’ back in May of 2024. And rightly so.
Unsurprisingly, the award wasn’t one voted for by the public, which goes a long way in explaining how it got into the hands of the man who got where water doesn’t.
A quick search on his Twitter will prove that he’s never once shown an ounce of interest in women’s football or the WSL – at least in a public setting – which counts for a lot considering he’s the so-called ‘Ally of the Year’.
Quite simply, it’s a bogus award that doesn’t need to exist and undermines the hard work others are actually doing to promote the growth of women’s football.
And of course in the time since, he’s also lost his job with the BBC amid claims he sent unsolicited texts to a female member of staff.
Raul Mereiles – 2010-11 PFA Fan’s Player of the Year
This actually happened. We’ve still got no idea why.
READ: Raul Meireles and the strangest Player of the Year award in PL history
David Ginola – 1998-99 PFA Player’s Player of the Year
In the 1998-99 Premier League Season, Manchester United became the first team in English football history to win the continental treble. Dwight Yorke was integral to that, bagging 18 goals and assisting 11 from 33 league games.
Tottenham finished 12th and Ginola scored three goals. He also assisted 10, but come on. Numbers aren’t the be-all and end-all – watching the Frenchman is a testament to that – but in a season where United made history, it’s puzzling to think players voted for anyone but the Red Devils.
Steve Bruce – Premier League Manager of the Month April 2021
Bruce picked up the first and only Premier League Manager of the Month award of his career in April 2021 while in charge of Newcastle, beating fellow nominees Marcelo Bielsa, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Sam Allardyce.
More often than not the award goes to the most successful manager of the month – as one would expect – which in this case was Solskjaer, whose side picked up 10 points.
Bruce and Bielsa were joint-second with seven points, but Bielsa’s Leeds had also masterminded a win away at Manchester City that month.
But, for draws with Tottenham and Liverpool at the start and end of the month, Bruce picked up the award. Go figure.
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Mohamed Salah – 2018 Puskas Award
In a year that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale both score overhead kicks in the Champions League and Benjamin Pavard light up the 2018 World Cup with his sidewinder half-volley, Salah somehow won the Puskas award with a largely routine finish against Everton.
‘Routine’ is probably unfair. The Egyptian took the ball with his back to goal, sat Cuco Martina on his backside and checked inside before curling the ball into the far corner on his Merseyside derby debut.
A great moment, but absolutely nowhere near the best goal scored that year.
Luka Modric – 2018 Ballon d’Or
Ballons d’Or are always hotly debated and criticised for essentially being the Ronaldo/Messi award over the last decade, so we’re limiting it to one entry here. Honourable mention to Robert Lewandowski, who probably should’ve won the 2021 award.
However, we’re focusing on 2018, when Modric won football’s most coveted individual prize ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Antoine Griezmann.
The Croatian midfielder was crucial as ever for club and country as he won the Champions League and finished runner up at the World Cup.
Despite that, Griezmann actually won the World Cup, scoring and assisting twice in the final, Neymar put together a catalogue of individual displays in the Champions League and Ronaldo and Messi were superhuman as ever.
Not to go all Matt Le Tissier, but it makes you think.