2023 has just begun, and that means that it’s awards season in football.
FIFA are set to host their awards evening next month, and the nominees for some of the most prestigious prizes in football have now been announced.
All eyes are on The Best Men’s Player and The Best Women’s player awards, but there is also another prestigious award up for grabs on the night – the Puskas award.
The Puskas award is handed out to the player who scored the most aesthetically pleasing goal of the year, and it’s fair to say that there are some unreal strikes in the running this time around.
Kylian Mbappe’s World Cup final volley is on the shortlist of nominess, as is Dimitri Payet’s remarkable volley against PAOK.
Interestingly, Richarlison’s overhead kick against Serbia at the World Cup has also made the cut, and one has to consider that goal one of the frontrunners for this award.
If Richarlison does indeed pick up the Puskas Award this year, that would represent a truly unprecedented achievement for Tottenham Hotspur.
Indeed, this would be the third year in a row that a Spurs player has won the Puskas Award, and no other club has even come close to achieving that level of success in this competition.
Last year, Tottenham became the first team in history to have two consecutive Puskas Award winners after Erik Lamela’s goal against Arsenal followed up Heung-Min Son’s goal against Burnley, and now, they have a chance to make it three in a row.
This sort of run has never been seen before and may never be seen again. After all scoring these types of goals isn’t something that a team can really specialise in – winning a Puskas is basically the result of a one-in-a-million moment, but Spurs may be about to do it three times in a row.
If Richarlison does win Spurs their third Puskas Award in a row, this streak of victories may never be bettered.
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