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The 2015 Ballon d'Or ceremony is almost upon us. The ceremony rewards top players from around the world who excelled for their respective clubs and countries in the previous year. Apart from the Ballon d’Or itself for both men and women, there are also the Team of the Year selections, the Coach of the Year award and the Puskas award, given to the player who scored the most spectacular goal. The ceremony is usually very well organised and has all the top players past and present taking part in it. From emotional responses to players voting in an odd manner, here are 5 things that usually happen around the Ballon d’Or ceremony:
#1 Lionel Messi wearing an extravagant suit
Lionel Messi does turn up the style during the Ballon d’Or functions
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Ballon d'Or ceremonies nowadays are never complete without Barcelona's Lionel Messi stepping onto the red carpet wearing something truly extravagant and flashy. The diminutive Argentine has in the last three years worn a suit that was maroon in colour and was made out of velvet, one that had polka dots on it and last year one that was crimson red in colour.
Needless to say, fans across the world are looking forward to seeing what outfit he wears tonight. The 4-time Ballon d’Or winner is expected to add to his tally and get his 5th Ballon d’Or, dethroning arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo in the process.
Just as his style of play is magical and captivating, his dressing style on the red carpet have definitely made him one of the prime targets for the fashion police.
Knowing Messi though, it is quite probable that he does something unexpected and wears something normal to the ceremony. In that case, this article would have served its purpose!
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo getting emotional
Ronaldo has been emotional on stage in the past
Cristiano Ronaldo has shown that he is an emotional man, both on and off the field. The Real Madrid superstar celebrates with great enthusiasm and energy when he scores, and gets angry in the same manner if he makes a mistake or if his teammates make an error of judgement or if he feels he was wronged by the opponents on the field.
Top-scorer in Real's history, the Portuguese international has also shown himself to be quite emotional off the field, be it at the Ballon d’Or ceremonies or when at home with his son.
The 3-time winner of the Ballon d’Or has on two occasions in the past expressed his emotions quite openly on the award stage, breaking down after receiving the 2013 Ballon d’Or. The other time was when he won the award last year, when he broke out into a celebratory scream, yelling out, “Siiiiiiiiiiiiii” after accepting the award.
Irrespective of who wins the award, a little bit of emotion from Ronaldo at the Ballon d’Or function is to be expected.
#3 Controversial selections in Team of the Year
The presence of Iniesta and David Luiz was not met with acceptance
The Ballon d’Or ceremony also sees the Team of the Year being announced, a selection that comprises of the best eleven players from across the globe, based on their performances for both club and country. Every year, the selection for the Team of the Year sees public hue and cry over the selection of one or two names, because it wasn't thought that those players had great seasons the year before.
For example, last year's team saw the inclusion of Barcelona's midfield maestro Andres Iniesta and Paris Saint-Germain's David Luiz in defence. Both Iniesta and Luiz did not really have very successful seasons the previous year, with Barcelona finishing trophyless and Spain getting knocked out in the group stages at the World Cup, while Luiz reached the semi-finals with Chelsea in the League Cup and Brazil at the World Cup.
Both those players did not have great individual seasons as well, and hence there was a lot of talk about Iniesta and Luiz being controversial selections, selections that didn't deserve a mention in the team and shouldn't have been picked.
#4 Supposed leak/ confusion over votes
Lewandowski voted for Ronaldo, and then said he should have voted for teammate Neuer
The Ballon d’Or ceremony is the most glitzy, glamourous function of the year and involves the who's who of the football world. From top players to managers to agents, the function sees the cream of the industry present along with their family and loved ones.
In ceremonies as these that are conducted at such a large scale, there are always issues that sometimes crop up and situations that are botched. For instance, a couple of days back, there was a rumour that the winner of the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or had accidentally been leaked. Lionel Messi's name was reportedly the winner among the men while Cellia Sasic was the winner among women.
Similarly, post the declaration of awards, when the votes are revealed and the world is told as to how everyone voted, someone or the other always turns up saying that they should have voted for one of the other candidates, but ended up voting for someone else. A prime example of this is Robert Lewandowski, who had voted for Cristiano Ronaldo last year but later said that he should have voted for his teammate Manuel Neuer and that he was wrong to vote for Ronaldo.
Another very common thing that happens is most of the votes are very partial, with players preferring to vote for their own teammates, rather than more deserving rivals. This is something that is also revealed once the breakdown of votes is released and paints a slightly sad picture.
#5 Messi and Ronaldo everpresent
Ronaldo and Messi have a stranglehold on the Ballon d’Or award
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have combined to win all the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards since the unification of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d’Or award. Since 2007, Messi and Ronaldo have been present in the top 3 on all occasions but one, the year 2010 being the only exception when Real Madrid star Ronaldo wasn't part of the top 3.
The two of them have elevated their performances to a never before seen level and continue displaying their incredible levels of consistency season in, season out. If Ronaldo helped Real Madrid win their coveted La Decima in 2014, Messi helped Barcelona become the first team to win two trebles.
The numbers that these two register are simply mind-boggling and the fact that they keep breaking record after record are testament to their talent, hard work and dedication.
