Welcome to the Thunder Football Newsletter. #22
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Table of Contents

• The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023

• The Headlines ⚽

• Transfer Talk

• Memes 😂

The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023

The Best FIFA Football Awards is a football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA. The 2023 Awards Ceremony were held in London on Monday the 15th of January 2024.

Let’s see who won what…

The Best FIFA Women’s Player

🥇: Aitana Bonmati (52 points)
🥈: Linda Caicedo (40 points)
🥉: Jenni Hermoso (36 points)

The Best FIFA Men’s Player

🥇: Lionel Messi (48 points)
🥈: Erling Haaland (48 points)
🥉: Kylian Mbappe (35 points)

*Messi won on a tie-breaker

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach

🥇: Sarina Wiegman (28 points)
🥈: Emma Hayes (18 points)
🥉: Jonatan Giraldez (14 points)

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach

🥇: Pep Guardiola (28 points)
🥈: Luciano Spalletti (18 points)
🥉: Simone Inzaghi (11 points)

The Best Goalkeepers

The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper

🥇: Mary Earps (28 points
🥈: Catalina Coll (14 points)
🥉: Mackenzie Arnold (12 points)

The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper

🥇: Ederson (23 points)
🥈: Thibaut Courtois (20 points)
🥉: Yassine Bounou (16 points)

FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World 11

• Goalkeeper: Mary Earps

• Defenders: Alex Greenwood, Lucy Bronze, Olga Carmona

• Midfielders: Aitana Bonmati, Ella Toone, Keira Walsh

• Forwards: Alex Morgan, Alessia Russo, Lauren James, Samantha Kerr

FIFA FIFPRO Men’s World 11

• Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois

• Defenders: John Stones, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias

• Midfielders: Bernardo Silva, Jude Bellingham, Kevin De Bruyne

• Forwards: Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Vinicius Junior

The FIFA Fair Play Award

The Brazil Senior Men’s National team players have won The FIFA Fair Play award for 2023 for their fight against racism. 🇧🇷 

The FIFA Special Award

An additional award was given to Marta 🇧🇷, to recognize her role and contribution to the sport of football. FIFA also announced the introduction of a new award starting from 2025 to honour her achievements and role in women's football. The best goal scored in women’s football will receive the Marta Award.

The Puskás Award

🥇: Guilherme Madruga (22 points)
🥈: Nuno Santos (18 points)
🥉: Julio Enciso (17 points)

The Headlines

Bafana Bafana ready to kickstart AFCON journey 🇿🇦

The South African National Football Team (Bafana Bafana) will play their first African Cup of Nations (AFCON) match tonight against Mali.

Bafana Bafana has a strong squad even without Burnley’s Lyle Foster. They will have to overcome the likes of Mali (#51) and Tunisia (#28) who are ranked higher than SA (#66) in the latest FIFA World Rankings.

All of Bafana Bafana’s AFCON fixtures (SA Time):

• 16 Jan, 22:00 - vs Mali 🇲🇱

• 21 Jan, 22:00 - vs Namibia 🇳🇦 

• 24 Jan, 19:00 - vs Tunisia 🇹🇳

Transfer Talk

More Englishmen go to Germany 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ➡️ 🇩🇪

Bayern Munich have signed Eric Dier from Tottenham Hotspur on a deal until 30 June 2024, with the option for a further year. The England international defender will wear the No.15 shirt in Munich.

Jadon Sancho joins BVB as their new number 10 until the end of the season. He was in the squad on Saturday as Dortmund faced Darmstadt and provided an assist after coming off the bench.

Memes 😂

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