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When it comes to deciding the best player of the year, there are a few awards that put the stamp of authority of the player who has performed the best in the season or the calendar year. We have the FIFA Best Player award, the Ballon d'Or and others to write the history books for revisiting in the future.
For the last decade, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have made the awards unreachable for their contemporary superstars. Kaka was the last person to achieve the distinction of winning the Ballon d'Or apart from the duo.
But this year, the scenario has changed as Luka Modric is emerging as the strongest contender for the award.
That said, after doing a bit of analysis from the past, it can be concluded that the way the award has been handed in the past, needs to be revisited. The Ballon d'Or is more easily accessible to forwards as compared to goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders, which is not appropriate.
Let us have a look at why and how the award could be made reachable for the ones who are also part of a winning team and are sometimes more important to the success of the team than the forwards.
#1. Forwards are not always the best in a campaign
The history of the Ballon d'Or suggests that it has been dominated by forwards. Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to have won the award, in 1963. Franz Beckenbauer in 1972 and 1976 while Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 are the only defenders to have won the award.
Forwards have won the award a whopping 39 times, while the midfielders have managed to sweep it 19 times. The distribution does not go well with the backline of any team. Midfielders too are not quite in pole position for the award, although they are better placed then the defenders and the goalkeepers.
Gianluigi Buffon, Andres Iniesta, Wesley Sneijder and Frank Ribery are some of the names who were the worthy candidates for the award during their times. However, they were cruelly snubbed. (Read here for more on the snubs).
This discrepancy demands a better criterion for adjudging the winner of the award.
#2. Performances should be quantified for each position
Until now, wins and goals have been quantified and that sets the mindset of the jury while deciding the potential Ballon d'Or winner. With advancing technology, it's time now to quantify each move and key event in a match like assists, crosses, fouls, tackles, saves, free-kicks and clearances to name a few.
After quantifying, each player could be assigned points after every match. Then, a jury could be set for each league. The jury must be allowed to assign Ballon d'Or coins to the top 100 players on a monthly basis which are to be kept in a ballot box. The points awarded by the jury should not be disclosed before the calendar year ends.
This apart, separate points should be assigned for all the players of the winning and runner-up teams of the respective leagues and cups. After the final month of the calendar year, all the points accumulated by the players should be counted in order to arrive at the potential winner.
Though this seems difficult, it is not impossible to implement. Had such a criterion been in place, who knows, Wesley Sneijder or Andres Iniesta might have won it in 2010.
It is the need of the hour to implement this kind of a selection procedure.
#3. The motto of the award needs to be kept alive
The Ballon d'Or is one of the most significant awards in the history of the game, which is seen as the yardstick of individual brilliance across seasons.
This year, the award ceremonies have created a lot of controversy. Luka Modric has been awarded the FIFA Best Player after he succeeded Cristiano Ronaldo, the winner of the award since its inauguration.
The motto of these awards is always to choose the best in the season or the calendar year. However, time and again we have come across situations where the best players of the season are snubbed due to reasons unknown.
At times the jury is accused of being biased towards some particular club like Real Madrid or Barcelona.
This year, Messi and Ronaldo may find it hard to lay their hands on the award, and Modric might win. But there are better candidates who hold the right to be awarded the best.
May the best win.
