Coveted Prize

Every year the football world is anxiously waiting to see who will be crowned as the best player in the world.  By many, the Ballon D’or is considered the pinnacle of professional footballers’ accomplishments. 

Ballon D’or Dominance

The competition has been dominated by two players in the last ten years. Those two players are of course Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi and Ronaldo have won a combined nine out of the last ten Ballon D’ors. However, the competition has been much more open in the last few years. Luka Modric was the first footballer to break the Ronaldo and Messi streak. 

Ballon D’or Controversy

 Last year was a very controversial year. It seemed likely that Roberet Lewandowski was going to win the Ballon D’or. Not only with his individual performances, as he was the leading goal scorer all across Europe; his club Bayern Munich were also very impressive as they had their second treble winning season in their history. However, France Football decided to cancel the award that year due to the Coronavirus outbreak. They believed that because of the fact that many leagues were stopped due to the outbreak, it did not seem fair to present the award. 

Extremely Close to Call

This year however, the competition has been the most open to win in over ten years. Of course Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are up on the list for the prize, however there are many more footballers going head to head with them. Robert Lewandowski again is having a fantastic season, scoring goals for fun in the Bundesliga and Champions League. Salah is the leading goalscorer in the English Premier League. He is considered by many as the best player in the world on current form.  Jorginho had an amazing summer. Jorginho helped Chelsea to a Champions League triumph, as well as helping Italy win the European Championship. N’golo Kante and Karim Benzema are also amongst the favorites. 

The winner of this year’s Ballon D’or will have to have an outstanding season in order to stand above all these outstanding footballers. This will be the closest race to call in well over a decade.