Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 4:29 PM• Tom Rofekamp

Ajax and Feyenoord have a chance to win the title of ‘best club of the year 2022’. The Dutch arch-rivals are among the twenty contenders for the Globe Soccer Awards, which are organized by the European Club Association (ECA). The awards have strong similarities with those of France Football, which awards, among other things, the Ballon d’Or and the Kopa Trophy. The ECA also chooses a ‘best young player in the world’. Ryan Gravenberch has been nominated for that.

The Globe Soccer Awards come from the ECA, an alliance recognized by UEFA that represents the interests of European clubs. Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, heads the ECA. In addition to the ‘best club’ and ‘best young player’ titles, the Globe Soccer Awards also award ‘best player worldwide’ and ‘best coach’. A best female player and club is also elected.

Ajax and Feyenoord are therefore participating in the ‘best men’s club of 2022’ category. The team from Amsterdam has a chance because of last season’s national championship, while Feyenoord is nominated for reaching the Conference League final. In addition to top clubs such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Eintracht Frankfurt and Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Rangers FC also have a chance to win the prize because of their European success. The Saudi Arabian Al Hilal is currently in the lead with 42.5 percent of the vote. Everyone is free to cast a vote.

The names in the categories are very similar to those from the award show of France Football earlier this week. For example, Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema leads the way in the ‘best player’ category, where Sébastien Haller also has a chance. Unlike the Golden Ball election, Lionel Messi is one of the nominees there. Arne Slot is on the list of names in the category ‘best coach’, while Gravenberch can be found in the list of contenders for the title Power Horse Emerging Player of the Year. Gavi won the comparable Kopa Trophy last Monday, but Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde leads the way in the ECA awards. Besides Gravenberch and Slot, another Dutchman has a chance to win a Globe Soccer award: Joris Sebregets (@akkamist on Instagram) can be voted best football influencer on social media.