Luka Modric was today crowned Croatia's footballer of the year for the fifth time in the last 10 years. An impressive feat, you might think, but you'd be wrong, because compared to some other players out there, including his own teammate at Real Madrid, that's barely even dominant.
Last year Jon Walters was named Ireland's POTY, but it really could have gone to any of Shane Long, Wes Hoolahan, and Robbie Brady who were deserving in their own right, but Walters won and everybody was happy with the decision.
However, that battle for top spot is a luxury that some other countries don't have.
Spare a thought for the guys who are forced to turn up to their own nation's international football awards already knowing clearly who the winner is going to be...
Here are seven footballers that are responsible for that very feeling.
David Alaba - Austria
Once he broke into the Bayern Munich first team, no other Austrian footballer need have bothered to show up to the awards ceremony.
And it's fully deserved, Alaba is a truly excellent player, but his six win in row is only slightly taking the piss, and judging from what we saw when Ireland went to Vienna, he should scopp the seventh in a row too.
Lionel Messi - Argentina
To be expected, but what is funny here is that after giving the award to Juan Sebastian Veron in 2006, the outrage that Messi was overlooked sparked the split of the main award into two awards, one for best player, and one for best player in Argentina.
Had Di Maria not had such a great 2014, Messi would have had a clean sweep from 2006.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Sweden
10 years in a row. Wow. The only thing that has changed is the team he plays for.
No arguments here to be fair, and he'll surely get it next year too.
Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal
Figo was so dominant they stopped giving the award altogether until 2006 when Cristiano Ronaldo then took over. Fair play to Simao for a stellar 2010 though, it has to be said.
Mirko Vucinic - Montenegro
Not blessed with a large pool of talent, playing for a big Italian team was enough for Mirko Vucinic to walk this award until Stevan Jovetic did the same thing.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan - Armenia
Manchester United fans have been absolutely loving "Mickey" and the performances he has put in since Jose Mourinho determined fit to compete in the Premier League, but have a think about how much Armenian football fans must love him.
Mkhitaryan has won the Armenian POTY award six time in a row, and seven out of the last eight years. That's good going. Once again, it seems as though there is nobody that can realistically challenge him next year, but you never know.
