Welcome to the 17th edition of Row Z, our weekly column on The Athletic that shines a light on the bonkers side of the game.
From clubs to managers, players to organisations, every Friday we’ll bring you the absurdities, the greed, the contradictions, the preposterousness and the oddities of the game we all love…
Football fever
Forget the FIFA Awards, forget BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the only awards that have mattered in the past month are the Globe Soccer Awards held in Dubai last week.
It was a “truly unforgettable” evening, the organisers said, and “delivered a night of unparalleled glamour, emotion, and football fever”.
The judging panel, which included Iker Casillas, Francesco Totti and, erm, Ian Rush, dished out awards to Vinicius Jr (men’s player of the year), Aitana Bonmati (women’s player of the year) and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo (best Middle East player).
Ronaldo also won the top goalscorer of all time award (presumably Pele’s relatives weren’t available to collect the award on his behalf). Whatever the legitimacy or otherwise of claiming someone to be the highest goalscoring footballer ever, it should be noted that Ronaldo also won the award in 2021.
Not that they just make these awards up as they go along. Take the big one for example…
