Ludicrous voting has tainted the prestige of the Ballon d’Or

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  • "The seeds of Ronaldo’s victory were sown when Blatter mocked him at the Oxford Union."

    For all the debate over who deserved it (personally, I think Franck Ribery was robbed but then I don’t get to vote), if you want to fully take in the ridiculousness of the Ballon d’Or then download the PDF from the FIFA website of the full list of voting.

    What may first strike you is that neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo included each other in their respective top threes. Do Ronaldo and Messi really consider each of them to not be among the best players in the world for last year, or were they merely ensuring they had the maximum chance of winning themselves?

    Ronaldo’s No1 choice, Radamel Falcao, is certainly interesting, especially when you consider they both share Jorge Mendes as an agent.

    Messi, somewhat unsurprisingly, compiled a top three exclusively of Barcelona players (Iniesta, Xavi and then Neymar) while down the list you have Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon selecting international and Juventus team-mate Andrea Pirlo as his No1, Diego Lugano placing Uruguay colleagues Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani as his No1 and 2, Robin van Persie opting for Arjen Robben and so on.

    Is this really a vote for who was the best footballer in 2013? Have the players and coaches (check Vicente Del Bosque’s 1, 2 of Xavi and Iniesta) really sat down and thought about their selections carefully, analysed the arguments for and against? In some cases, yes, but among a considerable majority, no. They either voted for teammates, friends or on political lines (e.g. England manager Roy Hodgson making van Persie his No3 as a token nod to the Premier League).

    Since FIFA waded in and merged the Ballon d’Or with their own World Player of the Year it has become increasingly more arbitrary.

    Before 2010 the Ballon d’Or always had credibility, the FIFA award it’s flashier but more garish Hollywood-like equivalent. Now, unfortunately, the latter’s influence is damaging the prestige of the former with its ludicrous voting procedure, which has allowed it to become a PR-driven exercise, where no one wants to upset anyone else, especially their friends.

    The seeds of Ronaldo’s victory were first sown on October 25, 2013, when Sepp Blatter mocked him during an address to the Oxford Union, when he also said he preferred Messi. His actions (bizarrely) caused outrage, he was forced to apologise, Ronaldo sulked, hit back at Blatter with his ‘El Commandante’ celebration and then declared he wasn’t going to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

    At this stage, it was still widely considered Ribery’s role as the most influential player in Bayern Munich’s treble-winning antics made him the likely winner, yet all it took was four goals in two games against Sweden, the voting miraculously re-opened and Ronaldo was the overwhelming favourite.

    Since then he’s cunningly teased FIFA with his attitude over if he’d turn up before finally confirming his attendance last week. We can only assume he knew by that stage.

    Ronaldo’s win has been the result of a successful campaign trail, and Blatter can breathe a sigh of relief, his reconciliation with the Portuguese is complete. Which seems to be the main thing when it comes to the Ballon d’Or.

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