World Cup Football 2010: List of Awards

Spain is the new World Cup winner now after their 1-0 victory over Netherlands in Sunday night’s final. There are some other prestigious individual and team awards which have also been announced by FIFA.

Golden Boot: Thomas Muller (Germany)

German youngster Thomas Muller has won the Golden Boot of FIFA World Cup 2010. The 20-year-old Bayern Munich prodigy has clinched the award with 5 goals and 3 assists to his name. There were three other contenders in Wesley Sneijder, David Villa and Diego Forlan as they also scored 5 goals each, but the award goes to Muller as he has more assists than the three other players. Villa won the Silver Boot as he played less time than the Bronze Boot winner Sneijder.

Golden Ball: Diego Forlan (Uruguay)

Five goals and 1 assist may not best describe the kind of effect Diego Forlan had on the success of his team in the World Cup 2010. He was instrumental behind Uruguay’s fourth place finish, a feat they achieved for the first time since 1970. The 31-year-old striker was the key figure in orchestrating Uruguayan attacks.

Though the likes of Wesley Sneijder, David Villa were the favorites for the award, Forlan got highest amount of votes in a pool of accredited media personnel. Given his immense impact on the overall performance of Uruguay, Diego Forlan truly deserves the Golden Ball.

Wesley Sneijder came second in the pool and won the Silver Ball, while David Villa clinched the Bronze Ball finishing third.

Golden Glove (best goalkeeper): Iker Casillas (Spain)

The Spanish goalkeeper has not only become Spain’s first ever World Cup-winning captain, the Real Madrid star has also clinched the Golden Glove award as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. He bounced back strongly after the opening game debacle against Switzerland and saved Spain many times in the rest of the tournament including the penalty save against Paraguay.

Casillas conceded only 2 goals in total and both were in the Group Stage- meaning he did not concede any goal in the four knock out stage matches. Germany’s Manuel Neuer and Netherlands’ Maarten Stekelenburg were the two other contenders for the award.

Best Young Player: Thomas Muller

Thomas Muller was the outright favorite to win this award. In fact, the two other members of FIFA shortlist, Giovani Dos Santos and Andre Ayew, could not even come close to claim the award. No doubt, Dos Santos and Ayew showed their talent, but it was the young German who won the title scoring 5 goals and making 3 assists. Four out of his 5 goals came in the knock out stage and all were in winning causes, and that is enough to prove how important he was to the German success.

FIFA Fair Play Award: Spain

Spain has been awarded the FIFA Fair Play Award for their impressive disciplinary record in the tournament. They picked up 8 yellow cards and none of their players received marching order in the tournament. The Spaniards received 5 out of their 8 yellow cards in the tournament final. They caused total 68 fouls and their players were fouled by opponents on 125 times. England, South Korea, Argentina and Japan were also in the race to win the award, but Spain stood out in the end.