Sepp Blatter has admitted that FIFA made a mistake awarding Lionel Messi the Golden Ball for the best player of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Football fans were shocked after the Barcelona ace was named the best player of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, after his side Argentina lost the final to Germany, courtesy of Mario Gotze’s late minute injury time goal.
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Manuel Nauer inspired Germany to the World Cup triumph with magical goal keeping and he was highly tipped to be named the player of the tournament, but he missed out on the topmost individual award to Lionel Messi.
Sep Blatter has admitted that he was surprised with the decision, so as the football fraternity, because Manuel Nauer or James Rodriguez, the tournament’s top scorer were tipped for the award.
"I think the decision was incorrect. I was surprised when I received the committee’s decision," Blatter said.
"They told me they had only looked at 10 of the players who took part in the final."
Indeed, many felt that Colombia's James Rodriguez or Germany's Manuel Neuer—winners of the Golden Boot and Golden Glove, respectively—were perhaps more deserving of the award.
The likes of Arjen Robben, Neymar and Thomas Muller also had a potentially better case than Messi, per BBC and talkSPORT pundit Michael Gray and New York Times journalist Roger Cohen:
As reported by Lee Thomas-Mason in the Daily Mirror, there were plenty expounding the theory at the time that, as both the Golden Ball and Messi are sponsored by Adidas, the sportswear company had a hand in influencing the vote.