This has always been a point of contention in the selection for the World Footballer of the Year and the Golden Ball Award.
And what about UEFA's European Best Player? It was awarded in late August! Essentially, it was a season-based award.
Furthermore, it featured a highly innovative twist. Building upon the original selection mechanism of the European Golden Ball Award—where all journalists voted to select the top three—a second round of voting would be conducted on the day of the ceremony. To some extent, this was an improvement built on the foundation of the World Footballer of the Year and the European Golden Ball Award.
Therefore, UEFA was not to be trifled with, and they had come fully prepared! Wang Shuo's greatest source of confidence also stemmed from this.
He thought, "So, FIFA still wants to play hardball to the bitter end, right?
