He spoke and said. ‘Ballon d’Or and The Best are losing credibility.’ In the wake of the Globe Soccer Awards gala, in Dubai, Cristiano Ronaldo’s critical tone is felt in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Record.
Is the Portugal captain’s feeling about the annual FIFA and France Football awards acceptable? The starting point for any vote is always ungrateful, because the rational/sentimental struggle has a lot to say. There are always a thousand and one factors, they all weigh tons of feelings, they all carry an (in)disputable weight of reason when it comes to pointing out one ahead of all the others.
There are endless interesting debates in light of this fencing of arguments between reason and feeling, such as the best foreigner in Portugal. I choose Madjer for his football quality and also for his ability to go down in Portuguese history with his backheel goal against Bayern in the Champions Cup final and the wide-brimmed hat against Peñarol in the Intercontinental Cup final. Here I mix feeling (football quality) with reason (facts).
And it all? Or rather, is that all it is? And scrutinizing Madjer, how about that? Is it important to know if he is a good professional, if he goes to all the training sessions, if he trains willingly, if he is a good teammate, if he is a good locker room? It’s a package of genuine questions, this ‘interesting to know’ has nothing to do with one or more tricks – this text is about fair play (and thinking). And we added in a tone of defiance to the election of Madjer, what about Jardel? And Deco? And Balakov? And Yazalde? And Valdo? How many old people from Restelo will say Cubillas straight away and how many new people from Alfama will say Jonas without blinking?
There’s no need to go any further, there are those who claim Jonas in Benfica’s usual eleven instead of Torres in a 4-2-4 formation with José Augusto on the right, Eusébio in the middle and Simões on the left. It makes sense? Just because he wins four Portuguese championship titles in five seasons? Just because he scores 137 goals out of 183 goals? Only, those most astonished by the abused use of this adverb will say. And now?
And now, nothing. That’s how it is, voting is “just” a vote. Nothing else. It does not work as an absolute truth nor does it measure anyone’s story. Maradona and Pelé, together, have zero Ballon d’Ors. Of course, at the time the award was as European as possible, and it was only in 1995 that globalization began, especially with the title of Weah (Liberia). Even so, the so-called injustices happen on an annual basis. Sometimes, the same player can even be doubly wronged. The most symptomatic case is that of Deco in FIFA 2004. So the man is a European champion with FC Porto, reaches the Euro final with Portugal, and even moves to Barcelona in the middle of the year, where the harmony with Ronaldinho is beyond perfect. , and is neither had nor found for the first three? (Ronaldinho first, Henry second, Shevchenko third). Worse, he ends up seventh. Jaaaaaasus.
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Lionel Messi named FIFA’s ‘The Best’ for the eighth time
Previously, in 1987, Gullit beat Futre by 15 points. Like this? It has nothing to do with lobbies or fraud or games of interest, it has to do with status and what that word conveys and drags in the pseudo-thinking heads of those who understand the matter. Gullit went to Milan and gained international dimension, Futre chose Atlético Madrd and remained in the European middle class, even though he was the reigning European champion with FC Porto. Question, valid for both 1987 and 2004: does any voter of these awards (whether player, coach or journalist) follow the Portuguese 1st division on a weekly basis? About zero. Hence the title for Gullit, hence the sextet in front of Deco.
Back to the beginning, the Ballon d’Or never had any credibility. Not even when Ronaldo won it six times. Or five, I don’t even remember. Seven weren’t, because Messi has now won the eighth and distanced himself even further from the competition. The Best, ditto ditto. The Globe Soccer Awards, quote, quote – what can we say about a 13-year-old award in which Jorge Mendes wins the award for best agent 11 times, Messi is only voted best player once and Cristiano six times?
Funny, Ronaldo complains about the lack of credibility and forgets that he himself rigged this voting system for years and years. If we analyze his choices for FIFA’s top three best of the year, the Portugal captain only votes for Messi once between 2010 and 2021 (Messi only mentions Ronaldo in 2018, as third place, and 2019, as second). What do these votes say about the voters themselves? That the word credibility needs a breath of fresh air.
Here are the votes
RONALDO
2010 Xavi Casillas Sneijder
2011 Did not vote
2012 Did not vote
2013 Falcao Ballet Özil
2014 Ramos Bale Benzema
2015 Benzema James Bale
2016 Bale Modric Ramos
2017 Modric Ramos Marcelo
2018 Varane Modric Griezmann
2019 De Ligt De Jong Mbappe
2020 Lewandowski Messi Football
2021 Lewandowski Kante Jorginho
MESSI
2010 Did not vote
2011 Xavi Iniesta Aguero
2012 Iniesta Xavi Aguero
2013 Iniesta Xavi Neymar
2014 Di María Iniesta Mascherano
2015 Suárez Neymar Iniesta
2016 Suárez Neymar Iniesta
2017 Suárez Iniesta Neymar
2018 Modric Mbappé Cristiano
2019 Mané Cristiano De Jong
2020 Neymar Mbappe Lewandowski
2021 Neymar Mbappé Benzema
2022 Neymar Mbappé Benzema
2023 Haaland Mbappé Julian Álvarez
Author writes according to the old spelling.