If Kylian Mbappé won France Football’s best French player award, Antoine Griezmann did not put his countryman in first place. For his part, Karim Benzema did not even put him on the podium.
As with the Ballon d’Or, some votes are sometimes surprising. At the end of the 2023-2024 season, Kylian Mbappé won the “France Football” prize of the French player, the details of the votes were revealed this Saturday. Quadruple winner, the Real Madrid player did not win like last year. With 56 points, he is only five points ahead of William Saliba. Mike Maignan (24 pts) completed the podium.
This Saturday, Football in France revealed the details of the votes of the previous winners, who are responsible for choosing this year’s winner. And some of the options are surprising to say the least. Crowned in 2016, Antoine Griezmann chose Alexandre Lacazette as number one, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and… Romain Del Castillo. Brestois, 14th in the ranking, collected a point, given by the Atlético de Madrid striker who probably wants to reward the good performance of the Bretons in Ligue 1.
Saliba is number one for Mbappé
Winners in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021, Karim Benzema completely bypassed his former teammate in Blue by not placing him in the top three, like N’Golo Kanté. Al-Ittihad striker named Eduardo Camavinga first, before Bradley Barcola and William Saliba. His friend in the middle placed the Arsenal defender as number one, ahead of Koundé and Camavinga.
Winning this 2024 edition, Mbappé chose to put Saliba in the lead, ahead of his Real Camavinga teammates. A prize the Gunners defender also “deserves” according to the Blues captain.
The ranking of 2023-2024
1. Kylian Mbappé (Paris-SG), 56 points.
2. William Saliba (Arsenal), 51 pts.
3. Mike Maignan (AC Milan), 24 points.
4. Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), 17 pts.
5. Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid), 16 pts.
6. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid), Pierre Lees-Melou (Brest), 15 pts.
8. Warren Zaire-Emery (Paris-SG), 11 pts.
9. Bradley Barcola (Paris-SG), Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), 10 pts.
11. Jules Koundé (FC Barcelona), Marcus Thuram (Inter Milan), 7 pts.
13. Michael Olise (Crystal Palace), 3 pts.
14. Romain Del Castillo (Brest), 1 pt.
15. Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace), 0 pt.