These FIFA awards are a sham

How ironic….Thierry Henry, the living legend, the top scorer in the history of Arsenal, a man who led his team through a whole season unbeaten and scoring stupendous goals along the way, a man immortalized with a statue mounted at the entrance to the Emirates stadium and the best player to never win the Ballon d’Or.

How ironic is it then that FIFA chose him to present the same award to Christiano Ronaldo, the man who is arguably the best at the moment together with Lionel Messi. It is almost humiliating to have never given him the trophy that he deserved and probably coveted the most when he had won everything else to be won and make him hand it over to Christiano Ronaldo who has now won it four times in a row.

I would have loved to have known what was going on in his mind as he held the trophy in his hands and known that he would never lift it in his lifetime. There was no player more electric (feel free to add your own superlatives) than Thierry Henry at his prime and that’s a fact. He did produce brilliant performances along the way didn’t he? This list includes the comeback against Inter Milan in 2004, the winning goal against Real Madrid as he led Arsenal to the Champions League final in 2004, the Liverpool performance in 2004 after Arsenal had been dumped out of the Champions League… and you probably have many more.

Thierry Henry should know that although he will never win the Ballon d’Or, he has already immortalized himself with Arsenal fans for years to come and no amount of trophies that he missed out on will ever change that.

When Diego Simeone pointed out how only two players on his team of last season, who are not even there anymore, made it to the FIFPro World XI despite their achievements, it is obvious this FIFA awards are a sham.