Voting needs to change to improve FIFA Best Award

This morning Brazilian and Orlando Pride forward Marta won the FIFA Best World Player of the Year award for a record sixth time and beat out Olympique Lyonnais duo Dzsenifer Marozsan and Ada Hegerberg.

Along with this announcement came the official voting for coaches, captains and media which quickly became the topic of discussion.

More coverage means more awareness and more footage etc to go on. That way, there can be a more informed. To all those already playing their part, well done and keep up the great work. There’s still more to be done though. Still , Marta is the 🐐 .

— Chloe (@englionesses) September 24, 2018

I'm honestly lost for words. No disrespect to Marta, she's a great player and I have the upmost respect for everything she has achieved but now this shows that this award has lost all sorts of credibility. https://t.co/YET2JaabSV

— Jasmina Schweimler (@JasSchweimler) September 24, 2018

I don’t want to be a Negative Nancy here but how @samkerr1 finished 9th is beyond me. What more does she need to do? Yes, Marta is a remarkable footballer but Queen Kerr deserved it this year! Back-to-back golden boot awards in the NWSL & really too many awards to name. #stumped https://t.co/LGNceDlIV2

— Tara Rushton (@TaraRushton) September 25, 2018

I had been waiting for this information since it was announced Sam Kerr didn't make the top three.

Voting sees National Team coaches, National Team captains, media and fans each have 25 percent of the voting for the Women and Men's Player of the Year along with the coach of the year awards.

Kerr finished ninth in the voting, which was a shock to anyone who had watched her between August 7, 2017 to May 24, 2018, the time period which is considered for the award. 

This included setting a new NWSL record when she scored four goals in a single game before eventually being awarded the leagues Golden Boot and MVP award after finishing the 2017 season with a record-breaking 17 goals.

Back home, Kerr became the fourth Australian to win the 2017 AFC Women’s Player of the Year award in November last year. She was the joint Julie Dolan medal winner alongside Clare Polkinghorne for the 2017/18 W-League season and was also the Golden Boot winner.

We can't just look at Kerr. Matildas coach Alen Stajcic finished last in the Women's Coach of the Year award despite taking Australia to their highest ever FIFA ranking. 

So why did this happen?

There are two main issues: Popularity and lack of exposure. 

The two go hand in hand, if you have no exposure to the other players you will vote for the player you have heard about. 

Now, I have nothing against Marta, she is a fantastic player and legend of the game but if you break down the voting she got five points from American Samoa, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Iran, Vanuatu, Guatemala, Guinea, Iran, Jamaica, Macau, Madagascar, Mongolia, St. Lucia, Uganda, Cayman Islands, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Belize, Bhutan, Ivory Coast, Guam, Guayana, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Ireland, Serbia, Uganda and Uruguay.