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The Ballon d’Or is considered by many to be the most prestigious individual award in football, and rightly so, as the Golden Ball handed out yearly by Franch magazine L’Equipe since 1956 (apart from 2010-2015 when it was merged with the FIFA Award) has a lot of prestige attached to it, and has been won by some of the most legendary players in history.
When the award was merged to become the FIFA Ballon d’Or, a lot of fans and pundits alike complained about the merger, saying that the award had lost its credibility, as FIFA’s integrity had been compromised, leading to some very questionable awards.
When the award was returned to its original format in 2016, there was wide celebration, as it was believed that the integrity of journalists would ensure sanctity of the award was restored, as the journalists are more likely to vote free of bias.
However, events since then have shown that the journalists are as guilty of prejudice like the rest of us. The Ballon d’Or committee released a list of 30 nominees for the award over the course of the last 36 hours, and the list hasn’t been without its fair share of controversies.
The list in full:
Sergio Aguero (Arg / Manchester City)
Alisson (Bra / Liverpool)
Gareth Bale (Wal / Real Madrid)
Karim Benzema (Fra / Real Madrid)
Edinson Cavani (Uru / PSG)
Thibaut Courtois (Bel / Real Madrid)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Por / Juventus)
Kevin De Bruyne (Bel / Manchester City)
Roberto Firmino (Bra / Liverpool)
Diego Godin (Uru / Atletico Madrid)
Antoine Griezmann (Fra / Atletico Madrid)
Eden Hazard (Bel / Chelsea)
Isco (Spa / Real Madrid)
Harry Kane (Eng / Tottenham)
Mario Mandzukic (Cro / Juventus)
N’golo Kante (Fra / Chelsea)
Hugo Lloris (Fra / Tottenham)
Sadio Mane (Sen / Liverpool)
Marcelo (Bra / Real Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Arg / Barcelona)
Luka Modric (Cro / Real Madrid)
Kylian Mbappe (Fra/ PSG)
Neymar (Bra / PSG)
Jan Oblak (Slo / Atletico Madrid)
Paul Pogba (Fra / Manchester United)
Ivan Rakitic (Cro / Barcelona)
Mohammed Salah (Egy / Liverpool)
Luis Suarez (Uru / Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Spa / Real Madrid)
Raphael Varane (Fra/ Real Madrid).
The list above shows that the journalist towed the path of least resistance, and this award just like the others is more a list rewarding popularity than a genuine yardstick to measure player performances.
While the list has a bit more credibility than the FIFA’s released in August, and has some worthy luminaries like Cristiano Ronaldo, Rakitic and Kante, the 30-man list is still now without its own shortcomings. Here are five players who should have been nominated for the 2018 Ballon d’Or.
#5 Neymar
The 26-year-old Brazilian superstar became the most expensive player in history when he traded Barcelona for PSG in a record breaking €220m deal.
He had spent four highly successful years at Nou Camp, and many believed the time was ripe for him to lead his own team, as no matter what he did at Barca, Messi would always be the star of the show, and this was detrimental to his chances of becoming the premier footballer in the world.
PSG on the other hand are a club very much on the rise since their mega money backed takeover by QSI in 2011, and billions have been spent in their quest to become a force in football. Domestic dominance had been attained, with the club winning four of the previous five Ligue 1 crowns, but just one piece was missing from the jigsaw puzzle: The Champions League.
The Parisians marriage with Neymar was seen as a match made in heaven, as it united a player desperate to make a name for himself as the best in the world with a club determined to get its hand on Europe’s Holy Grail.
Neymar was seen as the man to lead them to the Promised Land. However, his first season at the Parc des Princes did not go according to plan.
He scored a respectable 23 goals in Ligue 1 games (although with all due respect to the French League, but it is not exactly the strongest league). Moreover, PSG’s dominance over French football was so utter that they could easily win the league without the Brazilian.
He was bought to lead the club in Europe, and it was there that he faltered. PSG’s biggest clash of last season against Real Madrid offered Neymar the opportunity to shine on the biggest stage, by dethroning the current world best and leading his club to victory over the defending Champions.
He however failed to do that, putting a no show in the first leg, before an ankle injury ahead of the second leg effectively ruled him out of the second leg and the rest of the season.
Neymar thus faced a race against time to be fit for the World Cup, and it was on him that over 200 million World Cup obsessed Brazilians put their hopes on to lead them to glory in Russia after the shenanigans of 2014.
Once again, Neymar failed to deliver, watching on haplessly as Eden Hazard and co knocked out the favourites at the quarter-final. Indeed, Neymar was so ineffective at the World Cup, that it was said he had more impact on the ground with his theatrical play-acting that he had on the field of play, with a report emanating that he spent a total of 15 minutes on the floor rolling around during Brazil’s five matches.
Neymar is undoubtedly one of the most marketable and popular players on the planet. However, his fame shouldn’t be used as a mask for the sub-par season he had, and in no way is he a deserving nominee for the Ballon d’Or.
#4 Luis Suarez
The Uruguayan has undeniably been one of the best strikers in the world over the last five years. He has scored a bucket load of goals in this period, and is one of very few people to have won domestic Golden Boots in three different Europen countries, as well as having the distinction of being the only man to win the European Golden Boot apart from Messi and Ronaldo since 2010.
Nonetheless, the 31-year-old has been on a decline in recent years, and a constant complaint of Barcelona fans has been his laborious play upfront.
Suarez didn’t have the best of seasons in 2017/2018, going on a six game scoreless streak in the league, although he did bounce back to score 25 La Liga goals. Barcelona’s major aim was in the Champions League, and here Suarez faltered, going over a year (11 consecutive matches) without getting a UCL goal.
At the World Cup, he scored two goals in the group stage, but took the back seat as strike partner Edinson Cavani stole the show with a brace in the 2-1 round-of-16 victory over Portugal before sustain an injury.
In his absence, Suarez was powerless as the French steamrolled his nation in a 2-0 victory to advance to the semi-final.
Suarez failed to effectively inspire both his club and his country on the stage where they needed him the most, and for this reason, he is not a deserving nominee for the 2018 Ballon d’Or.
#3 Hugo Lloris
The 31-year-old goalkeeper was the first member of the French national team to lift the World Cup, due to his role as skipper of the team, but beyond captaining his side, it is hard to see what else Lloris contributed to his nation’s triumph.
France’s control over most of their matches at the World Cup was so complete, that their defence was rarely troubled, as the brilliance of their midfield ensured the ball was more often than not in the opposition half, reducing Lloris to the role of a spectator for most of their matches.
He made only a handful of straightforward saves, and even fewer spectacular ones compared to fellow goalkeepers such Pickford and Subasic who made it to the same stage as him. If anything, he was guilty of making a comical error in the final which gifted a goal to Mandzukic, which would have been more consequential but for the fact that France was leading very comfortably at that time.
His domestic form with Tottenham was also patchy, so it is hard to see where the justification for Lloris’ inclusion, especially as it came at the expense of his national teammates who were more instrumental to the World Cup triumph.
#2 Isco
Isco was the 2012 Golden Boy winner, and much was expected from him since his 2013 transfer to Real Madrid.
A combination of factors saw the Benalmadena native struggle for playing time in the past, although he has seen his role in the team increase greatly in recent times.
The 26-year-old has been present throughout all the successes enjoyed by Real Madrid in recent years, as his guile and incredible technique from midfield proved an invaluable asset for Real Madrid.
However, for all his brilliance, Isco is a important rather than integral member of the Real team, and the overwhelming belief is that without him, the club would have still achieved all of its successes, as players like Bale and to a lesser extent Asensio could provide what Isco offered the team and some more.
At the World Cup, he was also part of a Spain team which failed to cover themselves in glory, as La Furia Roja Furia Roja put up a spineless performance, culminating in a second round elimination to hosts Russia.
Isco is a talented player, and has the potential to become the best midfielder in the world. However, for Isco to have been nominated with a performance such as he had in 2018 makes a mockery of midfielders such as Radja Naingollan and Blaise Matuidi who had spectacular campaigns.
#1 Karim Benzema
This has to be the biggest gaffe in the history of nominations for awards. The 31-year-old has no business being on the list of nominees for the Ballon d’Or, considering his appalling performance for Real Madrid last season.
Benzema has received a lot of criticism for his profligacy in recent years, but he took his poor form to new highs (lows?) last season when he scored a paltry 12 goals in 47 matches across all competitions, with just 5 of those coming in the league.
This makes a mockery of the excellence of the midfield supplying him, and his continuous inclusion in the Real Madrid starting eleven is as criminal as his unmerited nominations for individual awards.
In Real’s Champions League triumph, he was a relative passenger until the semi-final where score two goals to help eliminate Bayern Munich, while his goal in the final came about only because of Karius’s rather comical error, which was after the Frenchman had squandered two glorious chances as usual.
This season, he is once again struggling for form, despite starting the season imperiously with four goals from his first three games, and has now gone seven goals without a goal, which is a key reason why Real Madrid is struggling for goals and form at the moment.
His long running feud with Didier Deschamps and the French football federation meant that he was not a part of the victorious French squad at the World Cup, hence his nomination was undeserved, considering the fact that better performing strikers such as Eden Dzeko, Ciro Immobile and Mauro Icardi were left out.
