Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos and brother Felix have slammed FIFA's The Best awards this week.
The pair blasted the award winners on their personal podcast.
Toni was the more cautious of the two when it came to voicing his opinion compared to the now-retired Felix, formerly of Werder Bremen.
For the younger Kroos, the awards were “a joke", which the elder brother agreed with following the lack of recognition for Real Madrid's biggest stars.
Felix called them a “joke, it's a joke". Toni swiftly responded: “That's why you couldn't see Real Madrid anywhere at the gala. I also boycotted it. I didn't get any awards".
In addition to fans being unhappy at their favourites missing out on top individual prizes, soccer players themselves being rubbed up the wrong way by such awards seems to be something of a rising trend.
Felix was also unhappy with the winner of The Best FIFA Goalkeeper Award being Argentina shotstopper Dibu Martínez: “What was a joke for me was that the Argentina goalkeeper was also chosen as the best goalkeeper. Nobody knew him before the World Cup and they only gave him the award because of the World Cup. I didn't even think he was that good. He had one or two good saves, especially in the final, but he didn't make the best impression as a goalkeeper."
The brothers, however, failed to agree that Lionel Messi deserved his award for Best Male Player after winning the World Cup with La Albiceleste.
“In World Cup years, the tournament is always a big factor when it comes to individual awards. There he was the most outstanding player. That's why it wasn't a surprise, right?" Toni explained.
For Felix, though that shouldn't have been enough: “He may have been the best player at the World Cup, but this is about a whole year. So I didn't think he was 'outstanding' enough to win it."
The younger Kroos doesn't believe Messi is not the best of all time either, as many had said after he had added the World Cup to his sizeable personal trophy collection.
“These kinds of debates are rubbish," said the former Union Berlin player. “There may be the best of a certain era, but not the best of all time." An opinion that Toni opted not to react to.
