The scandal that is the Ballon d’Or

I have come to accept that it is impossible to objectively arrive at the world’s best footballer because of all the subjective thinking we carry into such debates. I guess what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander.

Nonetheless, there are some things I have struggled to understand about the Ballon d’Or in general and specifically this latest edition from last week.

To start with, knowing how much can happen in a year and how that can influence voters, why is voting done one year after the performance? Secondly, why is the selection exclusively from players plying their trade in Europe? And lastly why do the winners always have to be goal scorers like football is just about goals?

I will reluctantly overlook the gap between performance and voting as well as the visibility bias of Europe in today’s football world. But the consistent selection of goal scorers as the best footballers is just plain lazy and to be left to us armchair pundits, and fans for whom the drama of goal scoring is the fix for our addictions.

Imagine, this years’ shortlist of 30 was dominated by midfielders which is unsurprising in todays’ era of retention and creation, but even then, I see two broad categories – the goal scorers and others.
Of course, there is Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo and then the rest:

Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante, Erling Haaland, Leonardo Bonucci, Mason Mount, Harry Kane, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Karim Benzema, Raheem Sterling, Nicolo Barella, Bruno Fernandes, Pedri, Luka Modric, Giorgio Chellini, Kevin De Bruyne, Neymar, Lautaro Martinez, Simon Kjaer, Robert Lewandowski, Jorginho, Mohamed Salah, Cesar Azpilicueta, Romelu Lukaku, Gerard Moreno, Phil Foden, Kylian Mbappe, and Luis Suarez.

In the end the final three consisted of a striker, a midfielder and a midfielder-cum-attacker. It all just smirked of a casual acceptance that it is easier to rationalise the choice of Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski because of the sheer volume of their goals. 

As for Jorginho, his inclusion left me feeling like he was the placebo in an experiment with very predictable outcomes.
Eventually Lionel Messi beat them all but not without grumbles from a disbelieving public.

We all agree that Lionel Messi is an outstanding footballer, and he deserves the majority of the seven Ballon d’Or to his name. But if goals were the major draw, then Robert Lewandoski scored as many and surely there ought to have been a sympathy provision given that the pandemic cost him a sure deal last year.
 
And if it was for trophies won, then why not Jorginho or N’Golo Kante who added the champions league to host of other achievements? Messi won the Copa America, but Jorginho also scooped the European Cup.

Do you now see why I think it’s about time prolific goal scoring be left to the matter of the Golden boot? That I believe would free up minds to investigate the greatness in the process – the more subtle matters of footballers who build the platform upon which goal scorers stand.

It is therefore a disgrace that Jorghino only made it as far as third or that N’Golo Kante didn’t and probably will never, make the top three. And it is all because they don’t score enough.

And you can add this; unless focus shifts away from just the scoring, the likes of Leonardo Bonucci, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Pedri, Giorgio Chiellini, Kevin De Bruyne, Lautaro Martinez, and Simon Kjaer, should not expect to land the Ballon d’Or that their talent deserves. And that is such a shame. 

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Twitter: @MBanturaki