How are the world player of the year awards decided?

I have managed Barcelona for around 25 seasons and I have won numerous trophies (e.g. almost a dozen European Cups). I easily have some of the best players in the world at my club, yet none of them have been nominated for an award. It is one of the few things that annoys me. In real life they'd probably be up for awards every year.

When I look at the players that win the awards it seems they only win because they have made more appearances. I have a rotation policy where every single one of my players only plays half the games a season. This is to make sure they are always fresh. However, it must be the main reason my players are never nominated for best defender/midfielder/attacker in the world etc.

Does a player have to make a certain number of appearances to win an award? In FM it definitely feels that way, but is it like that in real life? If Lionel Messi only played half of Barcelona's games this season, but was incredible in all the big matches e.g. scoring a hat trick in the Champions League final, would he be ruled out of winning an award? I doubt it.

I'm pretty sure that the individual awards are as they are in real life - not who is the best player in the world, more who is the most famous player in the world who has had a half-decent season.

Therefore in the game it's got a lot to do with reputation, so maybe the fact that your players don't play as often means they have lower reps?

Recently I had a player finish 2nd in World Player of the Year yet my team were not in europe, didn't win any cups and finished 9th in the league. He did play well for his country but they never won anything either. After that happened I gave up and trying to work out how the best player is selected.

I'm pretty sure that the individual awards are as they are in real life - not who is the best player in the world, more who is the most famous player in the world who has had a half-decent season.

Therefore in the game it's got a lot to do with reputation, so maybe the fact that your players don't play as often means they have lower reps?

It can't be anything to do with the reputations. All of my players are described as world-class. I even have two midfielders described as 'legendary'. I also have a 'legendary' defender who led me to most of those victories and even captained England to a World Cup win. He never got nominated once.

It also seems that the winners every year have hardly won anything. Some of them are not even playing in Europe.

It's really weird how they award the players. I once had a team who won almost all competitions for at least 10 years and not one of my players gets nominated. I then jumped ship to another league and all of a sudden, players from my previous club are contenders for player of the year. weird aint it??

Its because by and large the award system doesnt work. Nice if someone from SI could explain it.