Put the "team performance" part in there, though, and you're basically giving the edge to guys who play for very good national teams. Based purely on that, and looking at the top three, you'd probably put Lewandowski (who scored 45 goals in 35 games for Bayern in the allotted period and broke a single-season Bundesliga scoring record that had been around nearly half a century) ahead of Messi (who had 31 in 36) and Jorginho (who had far fewer, but, hey, he's not a forward). The individual-performance bit makes sense and is pretty standard award fodder. Voters stick to the criteria, and whatever happens in November and December each year is totally irrelevant - consider it one of the quirks that make the Ballon d'Or so lovable.) (Note too that while it says "calendar year," in fact all votes had to be in by Oct. Individual and team performance in 2021 calendar year (well, Jan. The United States' representative on the jury, Soccer America editor Paul Kennedy, explained on Twitter that there are three guiding principles:ġ. You know how both the AL and NL MVPs in Major League Baseball this year, Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper, didn't make the playoffs? Yeah, there's a greater chance of Lil Nas X revealing that he is, in fact, Q than there is of something similar happening in football. And those who have good social media/PR teams. Those who play as forwards and attacking midfielders and therefore regularly make highlight packages. Those who play for teams that win high-profile competitions. The upshot is that certain players inevitably have advantages. Many do not, simply because they're dotted all over the world, and covering elite football in person, in this day and age, is an expensive luxury for most news organizations. Some are comparable to MVP or Heisman voters: folks who cover the nitty-gritty of the sport daily and attend plenty of games. (Why not 211, since there are 211 FIFA member nations? It's one of the mysteries of the Ballon d'Or.) In an effort to make this as inclusive and comprehensive an award as possible, France Football (the magazine that awards the Ballon d'Or) sends out ballots to 180 journalists from 180 different countries. ESPN+ viewers' guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more In some ways, it's closer to college football's Heisman Trophy - standouts who play glamour positions at big schools with big fan bases who play in big bowl games tend to win it - albeit with two important twists. But please don't mistake it for what it is not - some sort of equivalent of an MVP award in U.S. Goodness knows we can all use more shared experiences of the sort that don't involve spike proteins. I say celebrate it for what it is: some kind of global popularity contest/water cooler moment. Particularly since - after Messi or the yin to his yang, Ronaldo, had won 11 of the 12 previous editions - this looked like the year somebody else might get the crown. That's why Paris Saint-Germain's Lionel Messi winning his seventh Ballon d'Or ahead of Lewandowski and Chelsea's Jorginho is, to many, a big deal. Messi to Lewandowski: You deserved 2020 Ballon d'OrĪnd then there's the fact that it's natural fodder for endless discussions, both of the social media and of the bar room kind: If the sport is some kind of lingua franca, then this is the equivalent of talking about the weather, a natural conversation starter when you don't know what to say. The 2021 FC 100: Messi, Lewandowski among No.1s
There's the fact that top players really, really care about winning it: Clubs mount campaigns on behalf of their star players, guys like Cristiano Ronaldo (despite already having five of these at home) get annoyed when it gets canceled (like it did last year due to the coronavirus pandemic), while Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski's face lit up like a child hearing reindeer footsteps on the roof when he found out he was among the favorites. There's history: The Ballon d'Or dates back to 1956, which means it predates the European Championships, yellow and red cards, substitutions, color TV, remote controls and of course, FIFA (the video game). Why Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or win shouldn't make you angryĬount the Ballon d'Or as one of those grand old institutions that's insanely popular. Gabriele Marcotti, Senior Writer, ESPN FC
WHAT TEAM IS MESSI ON FIFA 15 UPGRADE
You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser