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The World Cup is what every player in the tournament yearns for. There is no greater prize in the extraordinary world of football.
In the prestigious tournament, there are five other laurels given out at the business end of the tournament.
The 'Golden' awards are considered to be very prestigious, and their winners emboss themselves in the sands of time. Without further ado, let's take a look at these awards.
#1 Golden glove
Attack win you games, defense wins you titles.
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This was demonstrated by Italy in 2006, who won the elusive world cup having conceded just two goals throughout the course of the tournament.
The Azzurri, renowned for their remarkable defensive abilities over generations, conceded an own goal in the group stage and then a cheeky panenka by Zidane in the final.
Their staunch defense line, with an inspired Gianluigi Buffon at the helm, did not concede on any other occasion.
The following world cup in 2010 saw Spain concede just two goals across the tournament as well. They conceded a goal a piece against Switzerland and Chile respectively, both in the group stages. They then registered 1-0 victories all the way until the finals to lift the much coveted trophy.
With a lot of nations having fearsome attackers in their ranks, it could be up to the men at the back to win the World Cup for their sides.
Goalkeepers are known to be heavily underrated, but FIFA has a prestigious laurel to hand out to the men between the sticks. The Golden Glove award goes to the top goalkeeper of the tournament based on the player's performance throughout the final competition.
Potential winners
Manual Neuer - Germany
David De Gea - Spain
Alisson Becker- Brazil
Hugo Lloris - France
#2 Golden boot
The Golden Boot goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. In cases of a tie, it goes to the player who has contributed the most number of assists.
If there is still more than one player, the tie-breaker (since 2006) goes to the player who has played the least amount of time.
Also, this award has a runner-up and third-place as well in the form of a 'silver boot' and a 'bronze boot'.
The 2014 edition saw the breakout start of the tournament James Rodriguez bag the prestigious golden boot with 6 goals, despite having been knocked out in the quarter finals by Brazil.
The silver boot went to the lethal Thomas Muller, who was the golden boot winner in the 2010 world cup. Thomas Muller scored 5 goals in that edition, with David Villa, Wesley Sniejder and Diego Forlan scoring same number of goals.
However, having registered 3 assists as opposed to just 1 each by the other three contenders, young Muller claimed the golden boot.
David Villa was awarded the silver boot for having played lesser minutes that Sneijder, and Sneijder was awarded the bronze boot for having played lesser minutes than Forlan.
Potential Winners
Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal
Neymar Jr. - Brazil
Lionel Messi - Argentina
Thomas Muller - Germany
There are plenty of others who can win the golden boot, such as Antoine Griezmann, Harry Kane, Edison Cavani, Luis Suarez, Falcao and more!
#3 Golden ball
The Golden ball is perhaps the most prestigious award on this list. It is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup final, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee and the winner voted for by representatives of the media.
Much like the golden boot, the golden ball too has awards for runners-up in the form of a silver ball and a bronze ball.
The previous world cup unsurprisingly saw the phenomenal Leo Messi bag the golden ball. Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben claimed the silver and bronze ball respectively.
The 2010 edition saw a surprise player win the much coveted golden ball, Diego Forlan was an absolute revelation at that World Cup, scoring some magical goals and leading his country Uruguay to the semi-finals.
Potential winners
Lionel Messi - Argentina
Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal
Neymar Jr. - Brazil
Kevin de Bruyne/Eden Hazard - Belgium
Antoine Griezmann - France
#4 FIFA fair play trophy
The FIFA Fair Play Trophy is a relatively unknown trophy at World Cups and is given to the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament.
This is the only team trophy on the list, obviously apart from the World Cup itself. Only teams that go past the group stage are in contention to win this award.
The award was first given out in 1970 and was won by Peru who collectively did not receive a single yellow or red card across the tournament!
The winners of this award earn a diploma, a fair play medal for each player and official, and $50,000 worth of football equipment to be used for youth development.
#5 Best young player award
The best young player award is a young award in itself, having been introduced at the 2006 world cup. The award is given to the best player in the tournament who is at most 21 years of age.
The three recipients so far have been Lukas Podolski, Thomas Muller and most recently, Paul Pogba. All three of them went on to become household names in the world of football.
FIFA organised an online survey for users to choose the "best young player" of the World Cup between 1958 and 2002, naming the best young player of each tournament.
This saw some familiar names pop up, such as Pele way back in 1958 and more recently Michael Owen from the 1998 world cup.
Potential Winners
Kylian Mbappe - France
Gabriel Jesus - Brazil
Ousmane Dembele - France
