Today Carli Lloyd won the 2016 FIFA Best trophy for best female player of the year. This despite her national team getting knocked out of the Olympics in quarterfinals and her club team finishing eighth in their league. Lloyd might have put up a lot of goals, but most of them came against teams the United States was pasting by five or more goals. Meanwhile, German Melanie Behringer won a league title with Bayern Munich and helped Germany win gold at the Olympics, yet came third in finalist voting. What’s going on here?
FIFA Best (formerly Ballon d’Or, until the awards separated again this year and the Ballon d’Or reverted to being a French award) voting is done through a combination of fans, media representatives from each country, team captains, and coaches.