FIFA Ballon d'Or: The Game of Politics

Today, January 12, the World Football Federation announced the winner of the best individual award of 2014. On this occasion, we would like to post an analysis by expert Carlo Garganese (Goal) explaining the controversies surrounding this award.

“I learned a lot from the Ballon d’Or gala last year. When I walked into the room, I said to my wife: ‘I’m going to lose,’” Franck Ribery, the 2013 World Cup winner, told Bild. “There was a lot of politics involved. I saw how Sepp Blatter hugged Cristiano Ronaldo, and how he brought his whole family. I was an idiot. It was clear that Ronaldo would win that year.”

Ribery cannot understand why he missed out on the 2013 Golden Ball. Photo: Goal.

Ribery is not the first to complain about the political weight of the Ballon d'Or, or previously the FIFA World Player of the Year award. In recent years, Jose Mourinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Diego Maradona and even Ronaldo and Manuel Neuer have all mentioned it.

2014 is the year when the Ballon d'Or controversy resurfaced. Coaches, players and media associated with Barcelona and Argentina will support Lionel Messi. Coach Carlo Ancelotti, Gareth Bale and those associated with Real Madrid and Portugal will choose Ronaldo. Likewise with Neuer.

The Golden Ball has, at some point, become an award of lobbying, of media tricks, of family members. In their hearts, do voters really think they should vote for the most outstanding individual, or vote for their compatriot, their club?

According to the 2013 voting results, the coach and captain of the Italian team voted for Andrea Pirlo. Didier Drogba chose his compatriot Yaya Toure. Diego Lugano voted for Luis Suarez... Ronaldo and Messi did not vote for each other.

Ronaldo (left) is dominating the 2014 Ballon d'Or race.

The Ballon d'Or award has become a game where parties must skillfully use tricks to have more chances of winning. And there, fairness is sometimes a luxury. FIFA, with its highest representative, President Sepp Blatter, can turn things around. During the period from 2009-2012, when Messi won four consecutive Ballons d'Or, people called him "the President's son". The 2010 and 2012 titles that Messi received caused public outrage, and were considered "gifts" from Blatter to the Argentine striker.

In 2013, Blatter and FIFA shocked the world again by arbitrarily extending the voting deadline, giving more time to vote for Ronaldo, who dominated the sports headlines by scoring four goals to send Portugal to the World Cup finals. "The votes were deliberately manipulated," Bayern president Uli Hoeness asserted.

"The Ballon d'Or is voted for by coaches, captains and prestigious sports journalists in 209 countries. In theory it seems like a fair vote, but for me it's a political game. Some people want to support Mr. X or Ms. Y," said Jerome Champagne, who will run for the next FIFA presidency.

Ronaldo, who is likely to receive the award on January 12, said painfully in 2012: "I still don't understand the selection criteria. Some years they say it's because of personal performance. Other years they say it's because of titles."

Sadly, it's always because of politics.

According to VNE