Not many people were surprised by the name of the winner of the highest individual award in world football as Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a more successful year than his opponents Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid). His successes in the shirt of Real Madrid (Champions League) and Portugal (Championship EURO 2016) in the last year were not overlooked and the Portuguese has picked up his fourth Ballon d’Or.
The winner of the 61st Golden Ball was decided solely by a panel of journalists, rather than by votes from footballers and coaches as was the case the previous years. The reason lies in the fact that France Football decided to end their partnership with FIFA. Ronaldo was not present during the awards ceremony for the Ballon d’Or this year as he traveled to Japan with Real Madrid for FIFA Club World Cup. However, in preparation for the ‘absence’ of Ronaldo at the award ceremony in Paris, leaderships made video recordings of speech in advance for CR7 last Friday.
The ceremony itself has once again raised questions about how individual achievements should be honoured as Ballon d’Or is completely privatized by Messi and Ronaldo with many amazing players being sternly overlooked. There certainly may be some changes in the future, but for the foreseeable future Ballon d’Or will remain a highly debatable prize that rewards primarily most popular players who score the most goals.
Ronaldo is 31, Messi 29, and one has to wonder how long can the two continue to challenge for “their” Ballon d’Or.
- Sofa Score