France Champions: FIFA World Cup 2018
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - France seal second World Cup triumph with a 4-2 win over brave Croatia
We will miss this World Cup like no other. The day after Bastille Day France are champions and deservedly so. But only after the most remarkable, crazy and controversial encounter against a courageous Croatia in which there was a VAR storm, and an actual storm in the skies above Moscow, a first-ever own goal in a World Cup Final, a cool strike from a new global superstar, an horrific goalkeeping blunder by the man who lifted the trophy.
To secure its status as the best ever World Cup the tournament needed a memorable final. It got it. What a finale it was to this 31-day festival of football, as Gareth Southgate called it, and it was the highest-scoring final since England beat West Germany 4-2 in 1966. Well, they sang football’s coming home. At least the score was the same and while England and their fans will never stop dreaming of what might have been - just 22 minutes from the final, if anyone needed reminding - France has the 18-carat gold, 14-inch, 11lb trophy for the second time ever and the second time in 20 years. As the World Cup was presented the storm broke, the heavens opened and it poured down. Not that anything was going to dampen French celebrations. From Russia with love. What a World Cup this has been and, rightly, it ends with worthy winners.
FIFAGolden Boot Winner:
Harry Kane
The player with the most number of goals at every FIFA World Cup finals is awarded the Golden Boot. However, if two players are tied with the same number of goals, then the winner is decided by the number of assists. Colombia’s James Rodríguez won it in 2014 with six goals. Thomas Muller won it in 2010 with 5 goals. Miroslav Klose won it in 2006 with five while Brazil’s Ronaldo won in it in 2002 with eight goals.
FIFA GOLDEN BALL
FIFA Golden Ball: Luka Modric
FIFA Silver Ball: Eden Hazard
FIFA Bronze Ball: Antoine Griezmann
Introduced in 1982, the Golden Ball, which is deemed as the most prestigious award of the tournament, is presented to the most outstanding player of the competition. Members of the Technical Study Group of FIFA decide the winner. The players who finish second and third receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively. Lionel Messi (2014), Diego Forlan (2010) and Zinedine Zidane (2006) are the previous winners.
FIFA GOLDEN GLOVE
Thibaut Courtois
The goalkeeper with the best performance in the tournament is given the Golden Glove Award. The best goalkeeper is selected by FIFA on the basis of the performance along the final competition. The top prize was earlier called- The Yashin Award (named after famous Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin)
FIFA FAIR PLAY
Spain
The Fair Play Award is handed to the team which boasts of the best disciplinary record. The winner in this category has also been selected by the FIFA Technical Study Group. Colombia was the winner of the Fair Play Award at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
FIFA Young Player Award
Kylian Mbappe
Lastly, FIFA’s Young Player award recognizes the impact made by young footballers in the competition. The award will be presented to the player with the biggest impact at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. Technical qualities such as skill, style and charisma are taken into account, but so are other important factors such as a sense of fair play and a genuine impression that the player is playing for the love of the game. Paul Pogba bagged the award in 2014.
