Walter Finch
OBSERVERS in Spain have been left confused at how Gibraltar’s footballing officials could vote for Spanish players at The Best FIFA Football Awards in Doha yesterday.
Gibraltar men’s captain Liam Walker voted for Rodri in third place, while coach Julio Ribas voted for Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal in third.
Walker also voted Spanish teenager Lamine Yamal in second place – although he was not associated with the controversy which saw Spanish players sing ‘Gibraltar is Spanish.’
The glamorous gala, often considered a rival to France Football’s Ballon d’Or awards, sees delegates from every Fifa country vote in various footballing categories over the calendar year.
Real Madrid / Cordon Press
The magnanimous selections have stumped Spanish football critics, who assumed that Gibraltar’s officials would be bitter about last summer’s Gibraltar espanol controversy.
Spanish outlet OKDiario called Gibraltar’s votes ‘incoherent’ and a ‘contradiction’.
“They somehow acknowledged the great year each has had with the Spanish national team, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City respectively in these votes,” they wrote.
“But after the diplomatic incident between Gibraltar and Spain last summer, these votes are surprising to many.”
Immediately after Spain defeated England in the final of Euro 2024 in July, Carvajal was filmed banging on a locker door and starting the infamous chant.
But Rodri, who plays in England with Manchester City, took it to another level when he struck up the same song at the celebrations in Madrid the following day.
The song, which was enthusiastically picked by the rest of the Spain squad – and the tens of thousands in attendance – caused a diplomatic incident at the time.
The Gibraltar Football Association even launched a formal protest to UEFA, which resulted in one-match bans for Rodri and Alvaro Morata.
The winner for Best Men’s Player was Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior, who got revenge on Rodri for controversially taking first place at the Ballon d’Or.
Vinicius refused to attend the Ballon d’Or awards when he learned he had not won, while Rodri refused to attend the Fifa award yesterday.
Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho won the Puskas Award for scoring the best goal of the year with his overhead kick against Everton and Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez won Best Men’s Goalkeeper.
Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí won Best Women’s Player, Alyssa Naeher Best Goalkeeper and Emma Hayes Best Women’s Coach.
