The Belgians’ Favorite Sportsman 2023: Nadal’s Dominance in iVOX Survey

The Spanish tennis player has never left the top 5 of our survey, but he always found someone “more loved” than him. For a long time it was his friend Roger Federer (No. 1 in our survey five times), the Swiss’ hegemony being broken only once, by Usain Bolt in 2016. Then, since Rodger’s retirement, the French cyclist Julian Alaphilippe (2020 and 2021), and, last year, Lionel Messi, in the wake of his world title with Argentina, took over from him. This time, Nadal no longer has a rival.

DH-COIB-iVOX survey “The Belgians’ favorite sportsman”: Evenepoel, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Kopecky, Thiam or van Aert, who is the 2023 winner?

From a representative panel of 1,000 Belgians over 18 years old, surveyed by iVOX from November 26 to December 3, 2023, 18.4% of those surveyed placed the Majorcan among their five favorite active foreign athletes. This is 5% more than twelve months ago, but nevertheless significantly worse than at the start of our survey, when Rafa showed 25.7% (in 2014) or 21.4% (2017). Magnificent scores which only earned him, at the time, a runner-up place, behind the untouchable Federer…

The 37-year-old Spaniard, with 22 Grand Slam titles but down to 672nd in the world, has only played four matches in 2023 (the United Cup and the Australian Open), and has only won one. (in the 1st round, in Melbourne). If he finally returns to the courts in 2024, with the first exchanges in Brisbane at the start of the year, Nadal had not hit the ball in competition since January 18, 2023… But our survey is not burdened with prize list: it calculates the popularity of athletes among the general public (not just sports fans), and not the number of points won. It is not enough to win matches or races to win the hearts of Belgians.

Rafa, at the heart of women

Rafel Nadal is, as always, very popular on the French-speaking side: with 24%, he is the undisputed number 1 in the south of the country, far ahead of Novak Djokovic (14.4%) and Cristiano Ronaldo (14%). The muscular Iberian still capsizes women (22.6%), more than CR7 (13.3%), the powerfully built Lusitanian. And it is popular with 35-55 year olds. It is in fact among Dutch speakers that the Spanish tennis player is less popular: he is only 5th in the north of the country, with 14.2% of the votes.

In Flanders, it is the Dutch who rule the roost: cyclist Mathieu van der Poel (20.2%) leads the pack of “favorietjes” among our neighbors, ahead of F1 driver Max Verstappen (18.8%). Two Batavian world champions, who, overall in our survey, complete the 2023 podium: 1. Nadal; 2. van der Poel; 3. Verstappen. The Red Bull driver, the most popular among young people (34 and under), finally finished behind the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider (at 0.3%), the star of the over 55s, thanks to French-speaking votes, even if the two “Mechanical Oranje” are “only” 5th, for “Mad Max”, and 8th, for vdP, in the South.

Foreign sportsman of the year: top 50 ©IPM Graphics

Like every year, our survey allows us to divide Belgium into two, sportingly speaking, with more marked centers of interest on each side of the linguistic border. By schematizing, we notice that we are more tennis and football among French speakers; and more cycling in Flanders…

It is thanks to this observation that Tadej Pogacar (9th in French-speaking votes “only”, but 3rd in Flanders) finished at the foot of the podium (4th with 14.3%). The Slovenian cyclist progressed ten places compared to 2022, and pocketed his best ranking in our survey. He is now more popular than when he won the Tour de France…

Messi ahead of CR7

Pogacar pushes Lionel Messi back to 5th place. The “Belgians’ favorite foreign sportsman” in 2022 rode Argentina’s world title in Qatar last year. Despite its American exile, the Ballon d’Or remains a sure value in our ranking, on both sides of the linguistic border (4th everywhere), and regardless of the sex of the voters (4th also, among men and women).

The Miami star is ahead of his “half-friend”, Cristiano Ronaldo (6th). At almost 39 years old, the Portuguese continues to oil, in Saudi Arabia, and he is even progressing compared to 2022, when he fell out of the top 10, victim of his crossing of the desert… at Manchester United. Second French-speaking side and among women, the Al-Nassr scorer is less revered in the north of the country (8th), and by the men (8th). But he therefore nevertheless becomes the 2nd favorite footballer of the Belgians, behind Lionel Messi, while Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé preceded him twelve months ago…

Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest paid footballer on the planet

The first woman, Simone Biles, is only 17th!

Djoko sombre in Flandre

The case of Novak Djokovic is even more symbolic. The Serbian broke all records in 2023, establishing himself as the “goat” of tennis, the best in the history of his sport, almost indisputably. But his attitude, on and off the courts, probably pushes him out of our top 5 (he was 5th in 2022). Seventh with 9.4%, Djoko also symbolizes the Belgian divide. With 14.4% of the votes, the Serbian is the second most popular foreign athlete on the French-speaking side, stuck between Rafael Nadal and Cristiano Ronaldo. But only 5.6% of Dutch-speaking respondents named it among their five favorites! The world No. 1 therefore occupies 19th place in the ranking in the north of the country, just behind Dutch cyclists Annemiek van Vleuten and Marianne Vos, who are flirting with 0% in the South! We knew Djokovic was divisive, but not to this extent, and not culturally…

In tennis, the new generation led by Carlos Alcaraz has not yet replaced the sacred monsters: the 20-year-old Spaniard is only in 24th place (3.6%) in our survey…

The 2023 tops in tennis: gargantuan Djokovic Foreign sportsman of the year: appendix ©IPM Graphics

Former “Favorite foreign athlete of the Belgians” in 2020 and 2021, Julian Alaphilippe (8th) follows the Serb. The French cyclist is struggling to regain his former level, but he maintains a good level of sympathy in Belgium. Like Neymar (9th). Among footballers, the Brazilian does better than Mbappé, Haaland or Modric. Surprising to note that the top trio of our most beloved football stars (Messi, CR7 and Neymar) no longer play in Europe…

Tom Pidcock closes the top 10 of our 2023 survey. The British cyclist is very popular in Flanders (6th, with 11.3%), particularly for his exploits in plowing, and is less “recognized” on the French-speaking side (1.9% ). But since our survey sample (1,000 people) is representative of the Belgian population, the Dutch-speaking votes, which are therefore more numerous, logically have more weight…

Where are the women ?

No woman therefore takes a place in the top 10 for the second time in a row. The first of 2023 is far away, it is the American gymnast Simone Biles, 17th, ex-top 5 (in 2021)! While for “The Belgian Favorite Sportsman”, which crowned Lotte Kopecky, the ladies are regularly on pole (they have won nine of the thirteen editions), its “foreign” counterpart, more testosterone-intensive, has always favored a guy. The best result for a girl is Serena Williams’ 4th place, and that already dates back to 2017!

The Belgians’ favorite sportsman: the winners of previous editions

Foreign sportsman of the year: prize list ©IPM GraphicsThe favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2022The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2021The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2020The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2019The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2018The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2017The favorite foreign sportsman of Belgians 2016 The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2015The favorite foreign sportsman of the Belgians 2014
2024-01-02 07:10:28
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