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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated world football for the past 9 years and remain the favourites to win the Ballon d'Or again this year. However, with some recent developments in football, it seems their duopoly will soon be over and the Ballon d'Or will see a new set of winners in the years to come.
This brings various names to mind including several outstanding talents from different clubs in Europe. Neymar and Mbappe are two exceptional players from the French league with the potential to win the award while Juventus forward, Paulo Dybala is also in the race.
Other names include Antoine Griezmann, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Marco Asensio among others. But, there is a particular name I have singled out today and that is Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard.
Eden Hazard has been heavily tipped by many people to win the Ballon d'Or. The Chelsea player is one of the best talents in football right now. His playmaking role and his ability to manipulate the ball is remarkable. In fact, only a few players can reproduce what Hazard does with the ball at his feet.
He can pass, he can dribble, he can get past many opponents and he creates chances and scores vital goals. The Belgian is physically strong, he can hold onto the ball for long and he doesn't get dispossessed easily. With the ball at his feet, Hazard really is a magician.
Besides, he has achieved so many feats in his career. He has won the English Premier League with Chelsea on two different occasions. He has won both the FA Cup and the Carling Cup. On a personal note, he has won the PFA player of the year in his illustrious career alongside many individual awards including The Ligue 1 Player Of The Year during his time in France.
We all know that Hazard is an amazing player and therefore, we now understand why many people tip him to win the Ballon d'Or. However, it could be quite shocking to many because Hazard might never win the Ballon d'Or in his career and below are the reasons:
Also read: 5 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo should win the Ballon d'Or this year
1. Fierce Competition From Other Superstars
One of the reasons why Hazard might not be able to win the Ballon d'Or in his career is the fierce competition surrounding the award. Everyone expects Messi and Ronaldo to decline soon so other stars can fight for the award.
This could be good news for Hazard but if you think about it, Neymar is already touted to take over from the two legends.
Besides Neymar, there are players like Antoine Griezman, Paulo Dybala, Luis Suarez, and Gareth Bale, all of whom have outperformed Hazard in Europe in the last few years.
2. Hazard Is Not A Great Goalscorer
If you take a look at the past 10 years, you will see that the winners of the Ballon d'Or scored plenty numbers of goals. For example, Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo have consistently maintained large numbers of goals Scoring 40, 50 and 60+ goals every season.
Therefore, goals have become an important factor to consider when it comes to awarding the Ballon d'Or. So the task becomes even more difficult for Hazard considering that he will be up against the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale, Neymar and Paulo Dybala, all of whom possess superior goalscoring records.
No doubt, Hazard is an awesome player, but he is more of a creator than a goal scorer and since goals are very important to win the award, his chances become even smaller.
Also read: 5 reasons why Messi should win the Ballon d'Or this year
3. The Champions League
One big factor that has decided the Ballon d'Or race in the last decade is the UEFA Champions League. All past winners of the award in the last decade have all had outstanding performances in the Champions League and won the trophy a couple of times.
Chelsea winning the Champions League is not likely to happen soon when teams like Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Barcelona are in good form and fighting for the trophy.
Besides, these teams have more Champions League trophies and experience than Chelsea. Therefore, Hazard will need to work magic to make Chelsea win the Champions League. This also damages his hopes of claiming the award.
4. The Premier League Factor
Everyone knows the shocking stat that hurts the English Premier League Clubs despite their fame and viewership. Only two players have ever won the Ballon d'Or from the English Premier League and ever since then, players have struggled to even come close.
Besides, Chelsea has never produced a Ballon d'Or winner in history. Therefore, Hazard would need some miracle to make this happen.
Chelsea will also be reluctant to let their hero leave the Stamford Bridge anytime soon.
5. Lack Of Consistency
Only the consistent players can win the prestigious award and that is evident if you look at what Messi and Ronaldo have done in recent years. There was never a season that they failed to impress the footballing world. This would at times lead them to beat their own personal records.
But unfortunately, if you analyse Hazard's game in the past few years, you will be shocked to see that the Belgian has not been so consistent in his game. For instance, Hazard won the PFA Player of the year in 2014/2015 season only to come back and flop in the 2015/2016 season, a campaign where Chelsea finished 11th on the table and failed to qualify for the Champions League. He was labelled 'The Flop Of The Year' by the media in that campaign.
Similarly, after an impressive season in the last campaign, Hazard has begun this campaign poorly. He has scored no goals for Chelsea this term with only one assist in six appearances. If he is to win the award, he needs to be more consistent, if not, that could also see him not accomplish his dream.
