Megan Rapinoe crtiticized for her statement on why Virgil Van Dijk should have won FIFA Best player award

Megan Rapinoe criticized for her statement for saying Virgil Van Dijk should have won the award for being cute during the event in Milan.

Megan Rapinoe was criticized for her statement in the post ceremony of the Best FIFA player awards, the USA International was asked who she felt should have won the award for the Men’s best player.

In the below clip, she says Van Dijk should receive the trophy “just for how cute he is”, sparking a huge reaction online. Thus, in response many have reacted against Rapinoe.

So, Megan Rapinoe, a woman who strives for equality and wants female footballers to be praised on ability and not their looks etc, said Van Dijk should of won best player based on his looks…the hypocrisy https://t.co/onWnbGEQYM

— Dane Conneely (@DCon1892) September 24, 2019

Also read: Jose Mourinho walks away after bizarre query from interviewer at FIFA The Best Awards

Many on the internet called her hypocrite for making this statement, while also claiming to fight against misaogny and gender discrimination.

Many are claiming that it would have been a massive outrage, if a male footballer had said same for a female player, but Rapinoe will not see any consequences.

One user said: “If Virgil Van Dijk said this about Megan Rapinoe he’d be labeled a misogynist and condescending. Harmful to the growth of the women’s game. Would have to write a badly written public apology on Instagram and would be hence forth known as cancelled.”

It seems that Rapinoe said it light-heartedly but the social media did not spare her for the fun she tried to have it after the end of the ceremony in Milan.

Rapinoe won the Best FIFA Women’s player of the year ahead of Alex Morgan and Lucy Bronze, as Rapinoe helped her side to win the World Cup by scoring most number of goals in the tournament and having a phenomenal club year. Thus, making her the favourite to win the award.

While receiving the award, Rapinoe praised Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling and Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly for their stance against racism in the sport and talked about shared responsibility in the game.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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