Mohamed Salah bemusingly placed seventh in the Ballon d’Or on Monday night, but his prowess was duly noted elsewhere with two awards etched with his name on the same night.
Liverpool’s No. 11 is widely considered the world’s best player at this current point in time, but what is said to be the most prestigious award in the game failed to recognise as such.
So while Lionel Messi collected his seventh title, Salah added two more individual awards to his growing list and was there to collect one of them, in Monaco.
He was one of 10 players nominated for the Gold Foot Award, an award given to players for their athletic achievements, as individual and team players, and for their personality.
Players can only be selected by international journalists if they are at least 28-years-old, with the final list of nominees then subject to an online vote, and a player can only win once.
And Salah, 29, was the recipient on Monday evening with his wife collecting the award on his behalf.
? ?????????????????? ????????? ?????? ???????????????????????????????? ? 'Golden Foot Award' ??????????????? ?? ?????????????? ? pic.twitter.com/TWCBBFVmfC
— Mohamed Salah Thailand (@MoSalahTH) November 29, 2021
The tradition for the winner is to mould their footprints on ‘The Champions Promenade’, on the Monaco seafront, meaning Salah will join past winners such as Francesco Totti, Didier Drogba, Andres Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo in doing so.
And closer to home, Salah was voted the Football Supporters’ Association Men’s Player of the Year at the FSA Awards, claiming the award for the second time having also won in 2018.
“I’m honoured to be the first player to win this award twice. I would like to thank the organisers and all the football fans who voted for me,” Salah said.
Almost 400,000 votes were cast and the No. 11 emerged as the winner over Mason Mount, Phil Foden, Ruben Dias, Michail Antonio and Youri Tielemans.
Liverpool have had a player win the award on five occasions in the last eight years, with Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Virgil van Dijk also listed next to Salah.
And in his current vein of form, you wouldn’t bet against Salah making it three in 2022 alongside a number of other accolades.
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