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The Barcelona midfielder was nominated for the Best FIFA Women's Player of the Year award for 2022 despite being injured for six months
Eyebrows have been raised after Barcelona Femeni’s star midfielder, Alexia Putellas, made the final list of nominees for the Best FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award for 2022 despite being on the sidelines through injury for half of the year
Putellas nominated alongside Mead and Morgan
Putellas made the final three nominees for the award alongside Arsenal and England’s Beth Mead who was brilliant for the Three Lionesses as they won their maiden UEFA Women’s Championships.
Mead scored six goals and assisted five more in only six matches at the WEUROS and was the undisputed player of the tournament, as well as the joint top-scorer apace with Germany’s Alexandra Popp who also scored six goals.
The final nominee for the Best FIFA Women’s Player of the Year was the United States of America’s Alex Morgan who also achieved continental glory with her country in the CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
Like Mead, Morgan was also the joint top-scorer at the Women’s Championship and was named the Player of the Tournament after her goal in the final against Canada helped the USA to victory.
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She was also the top scorer in the National Women’s Super League in the year under review after finishing with an astonishing 15 goals in 17 league appearances, further cementing her place in the final three.
Unlike her peers, Putellas could not contest for continental honours with her country as she ruptured her ACL just days before Spain kicked off their WEUROS journey and has still not returned from the injury layoff.
So how is Putellas' inclusion in the final three fair?
Putellas’ inclusion in the final selection of nominees has not gone down well with all fans of the women’s game, but there is one ‘small’ factor that should clear up the furore that her conclusion has caused.
The genesis of the problem comes from FIFA’s weird timing of the award and furthermore the period of consideration for the award being handed out.
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You see, despite the award for the Best FIFA Women’s Player of the Year for 2022 being handed out well after the year 2022 has ended, the period for consideration is not the calendar year, but rather the year according to the football season.
This would mean that only performances between 7 August 2021 to 31 July 2022 will be considered and since Putellas got injured at the start of July, her missing the rest of the year becomes a non-factor.
In the period under consideration, Putellas was near unplayable as she led Barcelona to an unprecedented domestic season that saw them win every single match they contested in the Spanish Primera Division Femenina as well as the Copa de la Reina and the SuperCopa de Espana Feminina.
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They won all three domestic trophies but fell short at the last hurdle in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, losing 4-1 in the final to Lyon, with Putellas scoring the only goal for Barcelona.
It was her 11th goal in the UWCL and she finished as both the top scorer and player of the tournament.
In total, the 2022 Ballon d'Or winner scored 34 goals and assisted 18 more in 42 appearances for Barcelona in the period under review.
On the basis of this, it would be unusual, to say the least, to consider Alexia Putellas unworthy of a top-three nomination for the Best FIFA Women’s Player of the Year 2022.
- The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Pulse Sports
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