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Who will win Ballon d'or 2016 ?

Club & country:

Cristiano Ronaldo - 51 goals / 17 assists

Leo Messi - 56 goals / 32 assists



What do you think? What are the odds ?

I placed my bet on CR7 on OneHash | https://www.onehash.com/event/special_events/ballon_dor/20268

Odds for Ronaldo - x 2.575

Odds for Messi -  x 4.937

I'm for Ronaldo because he won UCL and Euro 2016 ..

Do you think that there is a chance that another player can win it?

my picked

Cristiano Ronaldo - 51 goals / 17 assists

he only failed to get spanish league trophy and Ronaldo almost got everything in this year from champion league trophy untill euro cup 2016 with Portugal in my view he has deserve to get Ballon d'Or however could someone else provide the valid link where i could bets for Ballon d'Or because i having trouble to found it besides those link above me

that's the most reasonable why cristiano ronaldo deserve to win ballon d'or in this edition. if you take a look to directbet they are currently not yet offering bet for cristiano ronaldo here https://www.directbet.eu/Event.cshtml?EventID=27301139 , messi have an odds @10 , riyad mahrez @20 and luis suarez @22. it must be a very low odds for cristiano ronaldo to win ballon d'or this year.

haha, no odds for Cristiano Roanldo. Joke? I will stay with OneHash

Ballon d'or is not for the team victory's. For that they got a UCL cup and Euro 2016 tittle. It's for the PERSONAL achievements.

I vote Cristiano Ronaldo. Because his performance was very good and we can see in some games. He could bring the Real Madrid win the Champions League. In addition he also bring Portugal successfully won the European Cup for the first time in history. Maybe it's my opinion that makes Cristiano Ronaldo is more appropriate for the title of the Ballon d'Or.

Current odds:

Leo Messi x 123.064
Neymar x 327.444
Luis Suarez x 549.049
Antoine Griezmann x 811.274

Bet Ballon d'Or with mutual betting: https://www.onehash.com/event/special_events/ballon_dor/20268

I'm with Cristiano Ronaldo for the Ballon D'or this year. You can see how wonderful his contribution for real madrid when they get an UCL trophy and for portugal when they get a Euro trophy. He gave a spirit especially in Euro Final Against France.

yes he does. He will absolutely win the prize. Nothing can stop him now. Unless Messi can score more than 10 goals per week which is an impossible things to do. Love Ronaldo. He is good footballer who never stop working and practicing to improve himself. He deserve the prize

90 munutes left! Bet Ballon D'or with mutual betting!

Leo Messi x 48.172

Neymar x 157.352

Robert Lewandowski x133.060

Luis Suarez x157.352

Paul Pogba x 861.909

Bet: https://www.onehash.com/event/special_events/ballon_dor/20268

I think Messi has better statistics by looking at the plain numbers.

Cristiano Ronaldo - 51 goals / 17 assists

Leo Messi - 56 goals / 32 assists

Looking at this, the assits from Messi are way more effective than Cristiano. Cristiano got also 4 less goals, and 15 less assists, that is a lot less.

But Cristiano has the most titles, hes got the Euro 2016 which is very important...

I think he will win, and there will be controversy, specially after the tax avoidance scandal.

I will pick Ronaldo because his performance of this year is excellent.He bring Uefa champion league for Real madrid also Won Euro 2016 for Portugal.I think he is the best player in current time and for these trophy he will surely win Ballon D'OR.

Merciless Messi @10 odds wow  :o I think this  Ballon d'Or race is over because this implies Ronaldo is something like 1.4 odds and is definitely going to get this one as he had a great EURO 2016 campaign and and a great madrid performance aswel. GL

Antoine Griezmann is 246.88 odds now. Hah! ;)

Not sure why you guys betting on who the Ballon d'Or winner, which if you are true football fan, then you should realize that Ronaldo deserves it. The only thing that could change it is some people who bribe the juries to manipulate the result. You are just wasting your time.

It'll be Ronaldo again surely, it has to be. He scored the winning penalty in the CL Final & Portugal won the Euros.

It has already been him , I just saw it on the sports news. Congratulations to him. Real Madrid is leading La Liga , Portugal won the Euro , he surely has scored a lot of goals in Champions League so if it would have been different that would have been a surprise.

http://www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it/

It's in italian but you will get the idea that he has already won.

i'm betting on CR7 too.
it was a great year for CR7 and even with less goals i dont see messi winning this..

neymar had a great year too, but like messi, he just cant win. CR7 was better.

the compare to win ballon d'or is prestage
this season 2016, christiano ronaldo is winner europa cup with portugal and champion leageu
lionel messi this same season only winner laliga spanol leageu primiera division

so chistiano ronaldo can win ballon d'or

I think pretty much everyone unanimously agree that CR7 should pick up Ballon d'Or this time( Other than some Messi fans). He did have a great season but he couldnt make a sweep by winning the La Liga. If it was just about La Liga i'd have gone for Messi but since everything is involved I might have to go with CR7.

Well Ronaldo won. That was a very easy bet, too bad I didn't gamble any money. I heard that it was leaked for days before the event that Cristiano already won. I didn't trust this enough so I didn't risk it. I learned from last time with the Hillary vs Trump thing. Some people claimed Hillary already won and was rigged, we saw that "Madame President" stuff leaked magazine. All the odds were in favor of Hillary... then Trump won.


Could have happened the same with this, except this time odds and polls were right.

I don't often post on random things but this ballon d'or shit is pissing me off...ffs it's not a team award. You win La Liga you get a trophy. You win the Champions League you get a trophy. World Cup, Europa League...they're all their own reward for winning. That doesn't somehow make your contributions mean more...particularly when you consider that Messi has been to the finals of the past 3 major int'l tournaments (and only lost 2 of them on penalties.)  Oh...and all the lucky calls that hurt Barca and helped Real this year (a 21 point spread by conservative estimate) and still it came down to the final game.

 Anyone who's actually seen Messi and Ronaldo play this year knows there's no discussion...Ronaldo has become an amazing poacher, no doubt, but Messi continues to cut through defenses like they're all a bunch of AYSO brats. He's far and away the greatest player the game's ever seen, and we're lucky to be alive to see it. To give the ballon d'or to anyone else while he's still at the top of his game is to render the award a fucking joke.

That is all, thanks.

I'm a Liverpool fan & obviously I'd love either player in my team, Messi or Ronaldo. They're both absolutely world class but if Ronaldo wins the CL with Real Madrid then surely he will win the Ballon D'Or, he would have won the CL & La Liga where as Messi only won the Copa Del Rey.

I actually prefer Messi but CR7 will win it.

Looks ronaldo will win ballon d'or this year due they got much more thropy than lionel messi even though messi have made many goals and assit but it will not help him to get ballon d'or.

I smell a Madrid fan, we have not even started the next league season let alone in December but you have started your whining for balon do'r for cristiano Ronaldo. What did he do the entire season for his team? It's about time people start realizing that football is a collective sport and stop fighting for individual awards. What if Juventus wins the champions league and complete the treble? Don't they have a player worthy of the award? Come on

He also had a great season but he couldn't sweep by winning the Champions League. If it was just about the League I will be going to Real Madrid but because everything involved I might have to go with the CR7. to support them but they are the same the same thing

Cr7 will win 100% this year too:

-Victory of the Liga
-Vitcory of the Champion's League
-Top scorer in Champion's League with 12 goals

-5 goals scored in the quarter-finals against Bayern;  3 goals scored in semifinal against At.Madrid;  2 goals scored in final against Juventus.

he got everything this year but if we compare from the productivity of goals between Ronaldo and Messi in spanish league unfortunately Messi more better than him because Ronaldo only made 25 goals this season and if i'm not mistaken that Messi has did more goals with 37 goals

in 2017
absolutely cristiano ronaldo can win ballon d'or
leonel messi only get spain cup, cristiano ronaldo can win champion league and spanish league
ballon d'or not only created goal and assist, but say about trophy

There is no way except Cristiano Ronaldo, only Buffon could be a strong contender if Juventus would win UCL, Ronaldo has made his field clearly without any further hasitation, so it can be predicted that, Cristiano Ronaldo will take another best personal reward in a row.

i think they should just hand over the Ballon d'Or to Cristiano Ronaldo even without holding any elections, there has not been any clear winner for the title of Ballon d'Or than Ronaldo this season he single handedly carried Real Madrid to the title.

I think Ronaldo will win this. His trophy haul and impact on his team is probably the best in the season just gone by, among all the players in the euro leagues.

What are the current best odds?

absolutely right, only Cristiano Ronaldo is the contender for winning Ballon d'Or in 2017, he has played fantastic football at the final stage both La Liga and Champions League, Real Madrid won double by his performance so Ronaldo will win in a row and for the fifth time...

there is no international event this years so maybe people will see from the achievement of every teams and here is the candidates for Ballon d'Or 2017

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Sergio Ramos
3. Gianluigi Buffon
4. Lionel Messi
5. N'Golo Kante

if we see from all the contenders apparently Cristiano Ronaldo had good chance to get this Annual awards

For me, winner of the Ballon D'or will be Cristiano Ronaldo, 2 place should be hold Gianluigi Buffon, and the third place will go to Lionel Messi..
If Juventus​ would win the champion league then Buffon would have been the first choice for me...

Cristiano Ronaldo is poised to win every major European Trophy available this year but when it comes to second place, I think Gianluigi Buffon should get the award, he won every major trophy in Italy as well as eliminating Barcelona in the Champions League where they eventually placed second. By this alone he should be the second place winner if not for Sergio Ramos.

agreed with you that Ronaldo should be the winner because he did a good performance and good achievement on Real madrid however unfortunately Juventus didn't win champion league trophy because if they win might be Buffon will had good opportunity rather than Ronaldo

This one seems closest to Ronaldo IMO, the performance throughout the CL was astonishing and his scoring in both la lega and CL was a key to those tournaments, The biggest competitor isn's going to be Messi (for a change, it probably won't be the two of them) as Kante and various players in Juventus had a very good season themselves.

Well said, Messi is not going to be the ultimate contender of this individual trophy, Buffon or kante would be the replacement of Messi, Messi did well in the league and UCL but it was not enough to make impact on the team result. Whereas Ronaldo did the actual job, which helps to his club to become the record holder.. what a season he passed....

Here is the list of 30 candidates for the Ballon d'Or:


Liga_11: Cristiano Ronaldo,Messi, Modric,Marcelo,Sergio Ramos, L.Suarez, Oblak, Griezmann, Isco,Benzema.Kroos
Premier League_7: Kantè, Coutinho,De Bruyne, De Gea,Kane, Manè, Hazard
Serie A_5: Dybala, Mertens, Dzeko,Buffon,Bonucci
Ligue 1_4: Neymar,Cavani Mbappè,Falcao
Bundesliga_3: Lewandowski, Aubameyang,Hummels

I think Cristiano Ronaldo will win 100% this year, he has won everything by scoring so many decisive goals.

I think only 2 possibilities, Ronaldo or Messi. Again. Hard to imagine anyone else being more worthy. Just shows how consistently these 2 players are.

There are a lot of players from these 3O candidates who should not be there, they are just to make the candidate to 3O only, which is far from getting Ballon D'or like Sadio Mane, Mertens, Marcelo, Dzeko. Their performance is good, but I do not think they should be enough to be nominated for Ballon D'or. And the results will be as usual, between Ronaldo and Messi alone.

Yes, it makes no sense for a list of 30 players, maybe it would be 5 or 10 maximum.
This year there is no doubt about the winners because Cristiano Ronaldo won the Liga and the Champions League where he scored 12 goals (5 goals in the quarter-finals against Bayern, 3goals in the semi-final against At. Madrid and 2 in final match the juvnetus, all teams with a very strong defense)

So in January 2018 CR7 will win his fifth Ballon D'or

great opportunities still held by Ronaldo,
messi has little possibility for this
other kandiat I think would not be possible to rival the ronaldo and messi,
so far only these two players are dominating and it may take 3-5 years to come we will find their competitors,
I see these two players as aliens because they do not have the fatigue of scoring awards

Whatever Messi did in the last weak for his country, I think Cristiano Ronaldo deserves Ballon d'Or again this year. because Ronaldo made some outstanding difference in the knock out stage of UCL, from Quarterfinal to the Cardiff. he played unbelievably for his club. CR7 scored 10 goals in 5 matches. Not only that Ronaldo also helped Real Madrid for gaining La Liga title after 5 years. So that he should be the best choice for the winner of Ballon d'Or this 2017.

i don't know what is the criteria to get this annual award but if we see the achievement during 2016-2017 i think Ronaldo derserve to get Ballon d'Or than Messi because Ronaldo already got almost everything from Euro cup 2016 untill champion league trophy but Messi he has failure bringing Argentina to get Copa America even twice although not in the same year

I really don't see Messi anywhere near this Ballon D'or this season, another Real Madrid should place second this time around and Messi should go preferably third or even fourth, or A juventus player should have the second position after Ronaldo, it's only fair seeing how they eliminated Barcelona.

Who will win Ballon d'Or?

Join the game with bitcoins!

https://www.onehash.com/event/special_events/sports/130773

For even being nominated to be among the final 30 out of the numerous playing all over the globe, I think its something to be grateful for not to talk of being nominated along side the two legends that hold the ballon d'or as their birth right is another achievement. Another achievement is getting to have an automatic pass to the event.

My favorite would be Rinaldo but objectively, I think it will go to Messi at this time because he has in my own opinion, using recent statistics done so much for both the club and his country side. My opinion though.

Yes, ronaldo will win it this year. The year 2016 is the best for Ronaldo. The trophy la liga, champions league, and euro 2016 trophy are his proof. Although at the beginning of this season ronaldo little trouble, but I think Ronaldo will win it.

Ronaldo is a joke right now ...
Messi will win!

Odds for Messi on OneHash -11,5 BTCBTCBTC

https://www.onehash.com/event/special_events/sports/130773

Tomorrow Cristiano Ronaldo will be awarded in Paris with 5 "Ballon d'or" of his career(2008,2013,2014,2016,2017),
Now he and Messi have the same number of "Ballon d'or".

Cristiano Ronaldo to celebrate this award, today has made a new record:
he is the first player in history to have scored in all the 6 matches of the qualifying group

I do not lile the way fifa is giving rewards to players. Logically Messi is the best even without winning cups. Ronaldo is making his worst periode ever.

Speaking earlier this season, Messi may be ahead of Ronaldo. But Ballon D'or is about a calendar year which means from January to December this year. And in that period, Messi and Ronaldo compete very tight up to now. For me this will be a battle between the two again and it will be very difficult to determine which one is superior.

It's today! Only 6 hours left! Messi or Ronaldo?

https://www.onehash.com/event/special_events/sports/130773

Cristiano Ronaldo is officially the winner of the 2017 Ballon d'Or!
here is the complete standing:

1° Cristiano Ronaldo, 2°Messi,  3° Neymar,

4° Buffon , 5° Modric, 6° Ramos , 7° Mbappé , 8° Kanté, 9° Lewandowski , 10° Kane,

11° Cavani , 12° Isco , 13° Suarez , 14° De Bruyne, 15° Dybala, 16° Marcelo , 17° Kroos , 18° Griezmann  19° Hazard , 20° De Gea ,

21° Bonucci and Aubameyang , 23° Mané , 24° Falcao , 25° Benzema, 26° Oblak , 27° Hummels , 28° Dzeko, 29° Mertens and Coutinho.

Mbappe in 7th is just a joke. He don't even deserve in top 3O. He's very talented, but getting into the big 3O for Ballon Do'r is not yet the moment, it's still too fast for now. Suarez is more deserving of position 7 than Mbappe. Anyway, the results are already out and it is a great achievement for players as young as Mbappe. Congratulations.

Ronaldo deserved to win as he has had once again a fantastic season. Too bad there is no Belgium player in the 10, De Bruyne has had his best season till date, but if he can improve further than a 10 spot next year should be possible for him.

Top 3 were expected. For the next 2-3 seasons, Messi and Ronaldo could win Balon d'Or again. But after that, I think they won't be able to win it anymore. Neymar, Dybala and others will take over

did not want to create a new thread and therefore i now BTCump this one
soon the annual award of the ballon d'or trophy is coming up again and according to transfermarkt there are 3 favorites to win the golden ball. personally i would wish it to Robert Lewandowski very much ... he was so close to winning it the last two years and this year it should finally be that way

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfB1nznXEAAJV7d?format=png&name=small

And, likely will be robbed of it again. Honestly, despite the Ballon d'or being hyped up to be this all great accolade, it's mostly just a popularity contest. That's been proven over a number of years now where Ronaldo or Messi weren't the best players that year.

Out of those that you've linked to in the favourites position I'd expect Kevin to get it out of all of those, since he's the more popular player. I don't know why that is. Not even sure why Kane is listed in the underdog chances, and in the same bracket as Salah, Mane, and Son. That just seems ridiculous to me. Benzema, Kevin, Mbappe, and Courtois all sound alright. Haaland might be popular, and lighting up the Premier League at the moment, but the time that this award actually counts he was relatively new to it, and I don't think he was the stand out player for the year either. Although, he would've a good chance based on his current form for this season's Ballon d'Or.

The previous time, Robert Lewandowski came quite close to winning it but was unsuccessful. But even though he's one of the current favorites to win the Ballon d'Or, I believe Benzema will receive more support. He had a successful season the previous year, leading his squad to the champions league final and winning the title. If Lewandowski isn't given preference for denying him the previous time, Benzema will undoubtedly win the award this year because his performance was the finest.

The two players with the highest odds to win the Ballon d'or are Benzema and Lewandowski. I don't think any of the players in the contenders category will come close to taking home the award this year, despite their success with their individual teams.

Oh definitely Ronaldos odds reflect his last reputation "level ups" but then again I would be a bit tempted to choose Messi. Knowing how inflated the odds against him are. Should we be picking Ronaldo due to his good-reputation streak?


That site does not work. When you click on it nothing loads and you see the words "server error". Seems like Onehash is not a very professional betting platform if they have server problems. Or maybe I caught them at a wrong time. Anyway, even if they go online now, I would still avoid them.

What sites did you other guys use for making a bet on the Ballon d'Or? If possible, one with a good reputation?

All odds favor Benzema; he is the front-runner for the prize. Lawandosky was at his best last year but he was robed for the award. Because he lost out the past time, no one will give him the award this time. I'm pleased for Benzema as he will be receiving his first Ballon d'Or award. He gave all for Madrid last year; regrettably, he has missed games this season due to injuries. That won't stop him from taking the Ballon d'Or home, though. Messi and Ronaldo have been the front-runners for the prize for ten years. Due to their advancing years and how it has affected their performances, neither of them is the favorite this year.

Ballon d'Or depending last season performance actually no doubt to choose Karim Benzema for the winner, but in this season he lost touch and difficult scoring goals with Real Madrid although have got injury. Lewandowski have consistent performance but bad reputation at champion league with Barcelona seems little chance can win Ballon d'Or this season. All odd favor for Karim Benzema is the winner of Ballon d'Or is realistic what his achievement with Real Madrid last season, success get champion league and la liga trophies I think enough to give him Ballon d'Or.

This year's Ballon D'or will be determined by the addition of world leagues in the FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar, predictions at clubs can be shifted in the calculations, but this condition is interesting to see how the regulations await how this year's FIFA World Cup is held at the end of the calendar season.

My opinion is that Benzema is the one who deserves to win this award this time, he is clearly the best player in Europe, and also the best in the world.
Benzema had a magical year with the Real Madrid shirt, he was the team's great hero in winning the Champions League 2021/2022 and also La Liga. Not to mention his impressive numbers.... he scored 44 goals and 15 assists in 46 games last season.
If he doesn't win that award, then there's definitely something very wrong with the world of football.

Me too I want him to win it. It is not for nothing that some fans nicknamed 'Lewangoalski.' He is no doubt a great player and goal scoring machine. Like what Welsh said, the event is more of popularity contest than competitiveness. I hope some not too familiar faces are recognised for their skills and not their faces at this year's event. It is good that those two who have dominated it for years will not be favourites. Messi and CR7 have done their part and it is time for them to take a back seat and allow hardworking youngsters come up. I hope Robert wins it.

there have been 4 nations that have won the golden ball a total of 7 times and it looks like no player from those four countries will get his hands on the trophy this year either

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfCTvzOXEAAnI-e?format=jpg&name=360x360https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfCTvzOX0AEE6RE?format=jpg&name=360x360
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfCTvzNXkAQEfpt?format=jpg&name=360x360https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfCTvzOXkAIAh0a?format=jpg&name=360x360

Haaland should win it. He is a damn monster. Even if he don't win the prize this year, few years later maybe he will be winning it every year like CR/Messi.

He played 218 games and scored 176 goals according to google and he is only 22 years old. More to it, he is a weight of 88 kilograms and height of 1.94 meters. How the fuck he can do that... and with that body?

The dude looks like he was artificially manufactured in a laboratory.

There is always speculation about the Ballon d'Or. But despite those speculations, it does not lose anything from its prestige. If these discussions continue, a more prestigious alternative organization should be organized in its place.

This year, seasonal performances will be evaluated instead of the calendar year. Benzema was by far the best performing player of the past year. He has 44 goals and 15 assists. He won the Champions League, La Liga, UEFA Nations League and Spanish Super Cup. He's totally a winner. If they give this award to someone else, the Ballon d'Or would be a worthless award ceremony for me.

It's Ballon d'or day
I feel its bias to put Mane and Vinicius on the underdog list both were outstanding last season compare to those on the contender list.
Mane should even be right up there with the likes of Benzema and Lewa, considering his heroic for both club and Country. He guided Senegal to win African confederation Cup and also qualifying to the World Cup finals. He was instrumental to Liverpool's Fa Cup and League Cup win. He was also an integral part of Liverpool's team that came Runners up in both English Premier League and UEFA Champions league. If the Argentina's intercontinental Cup win was enough for Messi to win his 7th Ballon D'or, then Mane should be on the Favourite list as well

I quite agree with this, Mane is a massively underrated player. His contribution this past year was enormous from club to country football and he deserves some level of proper recognition even if we all know that the award this year is going the way of Benzema whose form and contribution last season was undeniable especially for club. For me, I hope that the result this year is unbiased and void of manipulation.

Ballon d'or of this year 2022 was so obvious to go for karim benzima he really deserve it. He was a fighter on champion league and every match he was the player that score in last minutes. He also did a remontada against Manchester city in final match all alone and was the reason that real madrid took champions league. He fighted with all his power.

The compiler of that infographic is so controversial, I don't know why Mane was placed under the underdogs competing for the Ballon D'or.  How can you place Mane as an underdog
 Mane is supposed to be right up there and he should have better chances than Lewandowski and Kelvin.

Mane did well for Liverpool yp to the final of UEFA Champions League, won the FA Cup, finished second in the EPL and won the African Nations Cup and yet he is considered as an underdog. Thank god he left Liverpool he has been so much underrated in football. Meanwhile the final award went to Benzema and Mane among the 4 finalists.

congratulations to the french world class striker Kerim Benzema for winning the golden ball. Robert Lewandowski was certainly his toughest competitor but the difference between the two players was that one won the cl and the other did not.

https://i.ibb.co/hMQF14c/61138318.jpg

Congratulations, Karim Benzima (Big BENZ), on receiving this well-deserved honor.

This is a prize for which almost everyone knows the winner; we were just waiting for the right time, which was today, when his former coach Zidane announced the winner.
Benzima is a player with a big heart; he always cheers on his teammates when they win awards, and now it's his turn. Congratulations to Karim Benzima, the best player in the world.

First of all, congratulations to Karim Benzema. He really deserved this award this year. It was clear that they were competing with Lewandowski, but the incredible good work he did with Real Madrid at UCL helped him win the award. Lewandowski's performance this year may bring him this award next year.

A big congratulations to Karim Benzema he is deserving of the Ballon d'or title for 2022, finishing top scorer last season  both in the Laliga with 27 goals and in the champions League with 15 goals. He was a key factor in the Madrid squad last season. The 6-5 Aggregate in Real Madrid vs Mancity semi-final first and second leg Benzema had a total of three goals. Madrid won't have recorded any significant success last season if not for his effort and contributions

A deserved win for Benzema.
Bringing the La Liga Trophy and Champions League as well as being the Top Scorer in both makes him really worthy of bringing the Ballon d'Or this time and of course I don't think Lewandowski will protest like last season because he definitely knows where the difference lies with Benzema.
This is a great achievement for Benzema and I love it :D

people seem to have misjudged the final result of voting for the ballon d'or this time. Even though Mane is the runner up but I don't see Mane worthy of that place, his contribution is not that big just like kevin de bruyne

Benzema made a big contribution to madrid and the francis national team and even became the top scorer in La Liga last season, if we compare it with mane or kevin then his achievements are difficult for them to pass

A big congratulations to the man that never stops celebrating other beautiful players Benzema. Award well deserved I believe it was obvious to everyone who saw the impact created by Benzema in the Madrid team last season till date and the performances he displayed in the Spanish Laliga and the Champions League last season, his goals and the number of wins they brought to his team Real Madrid,  the assist he gave that brought winnings to the team alone says it all for him. Am happy that finally, he is alive to wear the crown that he saw other world-class players like him wore. Am so happy for the French super star.

it's not the only difference between the two, Benzema was more decisive than Lewandowski, his goals in the champions league got them to qualify in times where people thought that they're out of it, without forgetting his performance in La Liga too.

Congratulations!

Without a doubt, it had competition with RL and perhaps punctually at the aforementioned time that this award is being evaluated, you are right in what you mention (CL) but I even think that if such a situation had not arisen, it was Benzema's year at that peak moment that he is having At the pinnacle of his career, this Ballon d'O 2022 award is an evaluation for one year, but honestly, some of that plus from previous years gave him the guarantee this year.

I think this is one of the Ballon D'or awards that came with less controversies as the best was really awarded here. K. Benzema have been the ultimate best ever since Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid, he stepped up and became the bigman Real Madrid needed him to be.
K. Benzema more than ever deserves this year's Ballon D'or trophy and those that did his make up got him just right. He was just shining on stage, almost like the trophy which he held.

It was great too having to see the Senegalese Sadio Mane as second runner up. His made such an impression in the Afcon, premier league, World Cup qualifiers and now, the bundesliga. The secretes award defines Sadio Mane real good too.

Congrat to Karim, you deserved it. I know you will get it when you bring Madrid to get the Champions League title.

Besides Karim, we have a beautiful woman who the best in football, Alexia Putellas, a Barcelona player who got the 2nd Ballon d'Or trophy

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfTdC8XWQBEcWNv?format=jpg&name=large

So far, she has created 90 goals in 196 matches. And, maybe can be better if not has a knee injury.

We all know that Karim Benzema is the man for the award this season after all his stupendous performance in Laliga and  champions  league. Karim Benzema lifting his first Ballon'DOr is actually one of the most memorable day in his career and the Frenchman is very Happy that he's entitled to this for one time in his life with dedication in his performance and games for real madrid. Congrats to Benzema because it's not easy for striker to lift it. Robert Lewandowski was also issued Muller's award and best striker but does it suit him?

The long wait ended in victory.
Congratulations to Karim Benzema.
The UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and UEFA Nations League trophies are strong evidence that the Ballon d'or 2022 is yours at the age of 34. There is something more important behind the contribution in all the trophies that Benzema has given to club and country that has earned Karim Benzema the right to win this valuable award, namely the consistency he has built for the team.

I am also very happy that a former Liverpool player finished second in this award, namely Sadio Mane.

Benzema's win goes  beyond football. It's patience , resilience, consistency and hard work. I have nothing but respect for him, and I knew that he is gonna do it cause I watched him the entire season, breaking records, storming rivalry and breath taking moments, he is the true hero. There was no other person fit for this award other than him Karim Benzema.

This is a glorious end for Karim Benzema. He's 34. I don't believe that he has more than 1 or 2 seasons in front of him.
Isn't he the "oldest" football player, who receives a Ballon D'or so late in his career? I guess that Luca Modric won this award, when he was 32, if I remember this correctly.
Thibault Courtois had no competition for the Yashin award (best goalkeeper in the world).
I'm really surprised that Real Madrid didn't won the award for best club of the year. Manchester City won the award, but they didn't win the Champions League and they were eliminated by Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Karim Benzema is next to Platini and Zidane in the top 3 of the greatest French players of all time. Congratulations.

A well deserved one for Benzema and I'm happy for him because he worked hard and dedicated his entire life so far to football and most likely to Real Madrid so eventually life gets back to you. The achievement at 34 years old, to strike a Ballon d'Or where young titans like Haaland and Mbappe are contenders is also a big extra for him. Now , it's this the end of en era ? Because I don't see Messi or Cr7 winning another one until they retire and most likely the battle will move on young talents. ;D

Finally after many Real Madrid matches I saw this in my eyes, I think Karim Benzema deserves that Ballon d'or, I saw Karim Benzema's great performance during UCL and Spanish League matches compared to Lewandowski who is also a tough competitor, he deserves it got, I congratulate Karim Benzema

I watched the ceremony yesterday, and saw how much the recognition meant to him, his family, his manager and his country winning an award at age 34. His name will now be among the long list of Frenchmen that have gotten this recognition; Raymond Kopa in 1958, Michel Platini in 1983 / 1984 / 1985, Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991, and Zinedine Zidane - 1998 (biggest surprise is that Thierry Daniel Henry another Frenchman whose name is supposed to be among this list, is not).

Karim Benzema is one of the best strikers in his generation and he even has most completed skill set than others too. Because he has played in different roles in both Lyon and Real Madrid with so many tactics, many coaches. Because of Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema sacrificed his striker position and played more like a number 10 in Real Madrid.

Only after the departure of Ronaldo, Benzema began to explore himself again at his full capacity in striker position. I said again because Benzema built up his career in Lyon with a striker position that brings him to Real Madrid. After returning back to that position, with all skill set was sharpened with about 10 years together with Ronaldo, Benzema has become a very dangerous striker with outstanding skills.

The past season is just perfect for Benzema and it's hard to repeat. Anyway, one perfect season and one Ballon D'or for him as well as one more recognition in history for Real Madrid, France and La Liga.

There is a Every Ballon d'Or winner: A complete list of every men's player to have won the award (https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ballon-dor-complete-list-of-winners) with short description about each winner.

It's my first time to see Benzema wears glasses like this

France have many named list success winner Ballon d'Or and I am remember with several named only seems Michel Platini, Zidane and the last named Karim Benzema. Have many young talent from France have chance for next years named list the winner Ballon d'Or like Mbappe, Camavinga and Real Madrid midfielder Tchouaméni. Biggest named and talented Henry not have in the listed of France name the winner Ballon d'Or because trough he was failed give Champion League trophy for Arsenal and dominance named at Barcelona winning Champion League like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Have another France player biggest surprise not in the listed Frenchman for winning Ballon d'Or is Ribery, success with Bayern Munich but loss competitive from Lionel Messi.

Benzema really deserved this award. He played excellent football alone, helped them win many critical matches and thanks to him, his team won trophies. I think he was the most valuable player of the last year, and he was at the age where many players retire while doing all this.
He's still doing great and I think he'll be very successful this season as well. Benzema is to be congratulated :)

There may be some who disagree about decision, but I think the decision by the committee is fair. After the dominance of Messi and Ronaldo in the previous few years. Their performance has declined and Benzema is currently indeed a key player for Madrid and performing well. He became the key to madrid champions of the UCL and The League in the last year. Even Madrid also placed Thibaut Courtois with the Yashin Trophy for Best Goalkeeper.

Thanks to his outstanding contribution last season with Real Madrid, Benzema deserves to win the award. No other player has surpassed Benzema mark last season, he has helped Real Madrid to several prestigious titles.

The committee has done an excellent job, every player who was nominated and who managed to win an award for his contribution to the club. There is nothing wrong with the committee's decision, they have worked very professionally.

If Real Madrid vs Manchester City was an easy win for Real Madrid, I would say Courtois is really deserve to get Ballon d'Or but since Benzema is the key who carrying Real Madrid won against Manchester City, there's no reason for me to disagree Benzema is get the Ballon d'Or.

I think if Messi and Ronaldo can still play like when they was still in prime, it will be very hard to choose which one is more deserved to get Ballon d'Or. Few last years ago, I think Lewandowski and Neymar was more deserve to get Ballon d'Or rather than Messi or Ronaldo.

Benzema is a player who never gives up, he always proves that he has qualities worthy of attention by coaches. His career almost sank when he was in the same team with CR7. but he didn't give up on his situation. CR7's departure from Madrid give him a good place to prove everything. Zidane's role is important too, because he entrusted the front line to Benzema without any doubts at all.

He seems to be the oldest recipient of the award since 1956. A cool achievement even considering that modern medicine has gone very far ahead and modern players have more opportunities to extend their professional career. On the other hand, now the competition is undoubtedly higher, in those years the player was not purely professional, when the players devoted themselves to one thing all their lives since childhood.

Ronaldo and Messi reign has denied many good players the opportunity to compete for that award, think of Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski, etc. Actually, Benzema has done so much that he has been mentioned everywhere. If he hadn't been given the award, there would have been controversy. Ronaldo and Messi's decline can be attributed to their conceit and changing clubs. It is my hope that from now on we will have new players

Karim Benzema us the perfect man for Ballon d'Or this season because he has much credits both in Laliga and UEFEA. He's the leading top 9 for the los blancos and had delivered many chances for the team interms of comeback wins and back-to-back hattricks in UEFEA which sealed them to the final. Some fans say he's not too sharp with footing but I trust him because he knows how to position infront of goal and he always give real madrid hope when all hope is lost. Carlo Ancelotti recommend him for the team and they will work to extend his contract with the club.

The reign of Ronaldo and Messi was largely not due to their personal qualities, but to corrupt officials who stole awards from Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder, Forlan (and many who no one will remember anymore) in favor of Messi. Ronaldo got his awards not thanks to officials, but in spite of them (recall his conflict with Blatter). Now they are already very old, so they do not participate in the fight for this award. Let's see with what honesty the prizes will be distributed in the future.

Indeed, Real Madrid's success last season could not be separated from the great contribution that Benzema dedicated to Real Madrid and it was an extraordinary season for him. This award deserves to be bestowed upon him. Now he has successfully recorded one of the awards that many players want. And the award for him is not much debated because he really deserves this award. Congratulations to Benzema who won the award, hopefully this will be a motivation for him to navigate this season.

I somewhat agree with you regarding that of Sneijder Ballon d'Or award denial in 2010, Was where I do think that something was fishy with that very award, Then Sneijder really deserve that very award because he met all the requirements needed to be given world best player and was ahead of Messi for that particular award as at that time and this is where I agree with you.

While for that of Xavi, Iniesta and Diego Forlan, Yes that time these players were very good to win ballon d'Or but Lionel Messi at that was better than the trios in all round, remember that Messi was given those awards base on his performance.

Sorry, what you say is contrary to the facts.
Let's take the simplest example: Xavi and Iniesta in the period 2008-2012 won everything that Messi did at the club level plus they won two European Championships and the World Cup - this is the greatest achievement in history. Messi during this time failed first at the World Cup and then at the America's Cup. At the same time, during this period, Messi received 4 Ballon D'or but Xavi and Iniesta - zero  ;D
Messi is nothing more than a product of corrupt officials.

Happy for Karim, who has such a quiet and reserved nature off the field yet is a deadly striker and a very intelligent player on the field. I remember when he joined Real Madrid from Lyon, and at the time, Cristiano was the star player. Of course, most football fans have been rooting for him to win the Ballon d'Or. Last season he demonstrated the peak of Karim's abilities, and even though many people doubted him, he still managed to lead Real Madrid.

I am not entirely sure if Ronaldo and Messi didn't deserve their awards. I mean maybe you can find a few seasons where other players did have a good season, but these are the people who had 80+ g/a seasons multiple times, they are just unreal and can't be beaten.

Let me put it this way on how good Ronaldo is, we all talked about how haaland would need to score like 40+ goals a year for 15+ seasons to reach his goal count, that should be good enough, messi didn't score as much, but he had more assists, so the g/a rate is even higher. So that is the difference, they got the awards because they were consistently the best players each year, maybe 1-2 seasons could go either way, but it would still be 10+ combined for sure.

Many persons to do not believe the credibility of this award and the opinion they have is that it is plagued with partiality and biasness. For instance there has been a lot of expressed dissatisfaction to the award given to Gavi, where others believed that the most eligible for that award in that category was Camavinga who was a super sub and was very influential to Real Madrid's last season success, then why was the best team Manchester city and not Real Madrid which had one of the most difficult fixtures last season in the UCL but we're still able to pull through even when they looked at a disadvantage, they showed great team spirit and should have been awarded for it.

Yes that was a collective effort by Xavi and Iniesta for world cup, but you failed to look at it base on individual performances ,while then Messi, Xavi, Iniesta were in same club and all won the European champions. I do think this award is more focused on individual performances first maybe 70%, and plus the trophy, that is what the player did single handedly.

For instance, scoring goals that won a game ,assists, free kicks and penalties won by this individual player,  creativity, passes and a lot more in various compitions.These are things you put into consideration before judging, not just only base on wining the trophy.
Therefore my opinion here is that base on individual performances, Messi was better, just that people easily forgets things and how incredible Lionel Messi were in those days.

Individual performance is not only to score goals. Have you forgotten who Iniesta was in Barcelona team? The engine room and play maker? Messi in some occasions didn't deserve the awards, the officials were corrupt. The person that mentioned Sneijder, Forlan, Xavi, Iniesta forgot to mention the duo in the Bundesliga as of then; Robben and Ribery. Tbh football was not fair to these legends, we owe them apologies.

@Doncaster, Look at my points very well I did not say that only goal scoring was the main job here and literally Messi then was not only a goal scoring player and too I do not discredit the fact that this players were good but in the midst of good people (players), someone is better and which was Messi, I'm talking from the point of being a player not just mere talk. The difference is clear and you can go back to history, maybe try to watch best of these players in those seasons, you could get a clearer picture of what I'm trying to say.

Why do you keep writing nonsense? I wrote objective facts - it's impossible to dispute, it's not a matter of taste, it's simple mathematics 2x2=4. When we compare Messi with Forlan, Sneijder, Ribery, Neuer, etc. then it is difficult for us to separate the individual from the team, since all players play in different conditions and in different positions. But when we compare Messi with Xavi and Iniesta, there is nothing to argue about - Messi without Xavi and Iniesta was zero, and Xavi and Iniesta without Messi won two European Championships + World Championships in a row. At the same time, Messi received 4 Ballon D'ors, and Xavi and Iniesta zero! This is the biggest clowning I have ever seen  ;D

https://i.imgur.com/ag3ZJwa.jpg

The photo above was in 2015, where Benzema's teammates, Toni Kroos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Jamez Rodrigues received awards. Benzema who was right behind them could only support and celebrate.

The photo below, in 2022. This morning, Karim Benzema won his first Ballon D'or.

And in 2022, Benzema has lifted 3 trophies at once, namely:

1. UEFA Champions League
2. Ballon d'Or
3. La Liga

This is a common thing in sports - only a few remain in people's memory, although there are always a huge number of worthy and great athletes. For example, I am sure that few of the modern generation will be able to name at least a couple of Pele's partners, although they were the greatest players. After the era of Ronaldo-Messi, it looks like there will be an era of Haaland-Mbappe, and already in the next era, it is unlikely that anyone will remember Ronaldo and Messi strongly (except for old people, of course, for whom all the best remains in youth/maturity).

I see nothing wrong with all you've said here. Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi deserves those Ballon d'or awards,in exception of Lionel Messi winning twice, during the time Sneidjer the Dutch Captain and international, won the Champions League and also got so close to the winning the Fifa World Cup but Spain triumphed with the help of late winner Andreas Inesta. Lastly, during the season Lewandoski should have also emerged winner, that was simply and clearly robbery.

But in terms of consistency, scoring back to back goals for over ten plus years, Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo really made history, they deserve all of those appreciations as the world of football will sure miss them both. Barcelona made it easy for Lionel Messi, but Ronaldo has done across three club's, if not four, they are 🐐's.

Yes. Maybe there is a difference between Lionel Messi and Ronaldo. Lionel Messi had a brilliant career at Barcelona, while at PSG Lionel Messi was no longer as good as he was at Barcelona. Ronaldo has played in several clubs. His first career at Manchester United made Real Madrid sign him. He had a brilliant career at Real Madrid. I think this cannot be separated from the help of Marcelo, Mesut Ozil and others. But for now, the names of Ronaldo and Messi seem to be slowly being replaced.

Maybe the name Robert Lewandowski will appear in the future, but this really depends on the Champions League. But for now, the names of Ronaldo and Messi seem to be slowly being replaced. Maybe the name Robert Lewandowski will appear in the future, but this really depends on the Champions League. But we know Real Madrid star Karim Benzema has won the 2022 balloon d'Or. And this is history for the French star who won the first d'Or.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both created a beautiful history of football and i believe nobody after them is capable to achieve what they did ever again they were literally fighting for the ballon d’or every year without any doubt or competition by other players we just knew it’s going to be one of them, when Ronaldo and Messi were both playing in the same Spanish league LaLiga they really improved a lot of stuff in football, if you just remember how many people were watching the Classico between real Madrid vs Barcelone they are really both talented and nobody was agreeing who was the better player. Messi was unstoppable when he catches the ball and also Ronaldo was scoring every where. It’s was indeed a beautiful period in football.

Now yes we see also new talented players different strategies, Karim Benzima  grew up with Real Madrid and did everything to improve himself he was a hard working player and kept learning till he got his reward and dream came true by wining a ballon d’or, Lewandowski is already known in Bayern Munich for his strength and goals he may do much things this season but Barcelone are suffering from much losses right now and they may even leave champions league, so i must say it’s hard to predict the next players who will fight for the ballon d’or, we have also the goal machine Erling Haaland playing with Manchester city who has already scored 15 goals in the very beginning of the league. And much other good players

The first thing that stopped Ronaldo and Messi from getting the Ballon D'or award was that Ronaldo and Messi no longer played in the Spanish league, or just my opinion on the Ballon D'or award.

Have you ever thought that the Ballon d'or award that always benefits is the player who plays in the Spanish league, and it's only the big clubs from the Spanish league like Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​when the award is won.

Example :
1. Messi when he was still playing for (Barcelona) won the 7th Ballon D'or award, many pros and cons where Robert Lewandowski had a good chance of rivaling Messi at that time,

2. Luka Modrić plays for (Real Madrid), getting his first Ballon D'or award, even though there is Mohamed Salah who also has the opportunity to get the Ballon D'or award.

Many things are strange and unreasonable in awarding the Ballon D'or award, which is organized by FIFA, maybe that's a picture that we can see in terms of things that don't make sense.



If talking about good players this season may not be counted, Regarding Erling Haaland's game this season, this person is very worthy of being pinned by a Goal predator, because his desire to score goals is very high in every game he plays.

Again, if we talk about why Erling Haaland didn't get the Ballon D'or award, my answer is simple, playing in the Spanish league either at Real Madrid or Barcelona.

If FIFA sees the many contributions of assists in helping to score goals, why at that time CR7 When still in Real Madrid uniform had more goals than assists, In fact CR7 got the Ballon D'or Award, why not Luca Modric, James Rodríguez, or other colleagues who instead providing assists, more for CR7 to score goals..

That's my Logic thinking !!!

I do like this summary and I also do agree that giving it to Messi instead of Lewandowski came across as odd, but that was pretty much the single time during the Messi vs. Ronaldo era. I mean nobody knows whether we are going to see another combined 1000+goals? and countless assists by at least Messi, all happening between just two players. Now some people might argue that the Premier League is tougher and scoring 40+ goals is almost impossible. That is definitely a point to consider, but isn't it still a matter of fact that Messi and Ronaldo also lead the goal scoring statistics in the Champions League by far as well? They have just been the best players for more than a decade and they happened to play for around a decade.

If you talk about the clubs, well it also seems to be the case that Barcelona and Madrid combined won the most Champions League titles by far during that time. These things haven't been coincidences.

An important aspect is that none of them really got injured. The consistency you can bring onto the pitch is so decisive for your statistics and also for your visibility in the whole world. When you look at a player like Haaland, the only thing that could stop him from becoming a Ballon dor receiver is most likely an injury. If he is able to play at this level for Manchester City for a whole season without injuries, do you expect any player from Barcelona or Real Madrid to beat him just because of their club names?

One thing that is indeed a bit skewed is the position a player plays. As a striker you got much better odds to win the trophy. Regardless of that, the way Messi and Ronaldo dominated and decided games is rarely seen. I haven't seen it before in real life.

For me personally Ronaldo had a big impact and its a shame that he didnt win more ballon dors. Messi isnt even close to his gamestyle and play in like he was in Barcelona and that just proves so many things. Benzema deserved it last season he played perfectly and this was obvious he was gonna win.

This year's Ballon D'or is over, and won by Karim Benzema, enough of Messi and Ronaldo's good debate.  ballon D'or who did not wait for the completion of the FIFA World Cup which changed the direction of the winner, I hope, the best player of the FIFA World Cup will become the champion in the future in the acquisition of the ballon D'or 2023.

Last few years Ballon d'Or not dominance with both player only between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but need applause with both player success won Ballon d'Or several time although last edition on 2021 most controversy after Lionel Messi won and Lewandowski most expected to won have been in under Messi position. Congratulation for Karim Benzema waiting almost 15 years to be winner Ballon d'Or and exactly he has quite performance with Real Madrid, regardless many trophies success collected with Real Madrid in this season he has grew most potential player.

Next edition for Ballon d'Or I think still have several player dominance, Lionel Messi still have chance actually next month World Cup could be improvement for all player if success with their national team have chance to win Ballon d'Or, except with Cristiano Ronaldo, I think he loss chance to win Ballon d'Or next edition because he doesn't get regular position with his team Manchester United.

Benzema really deserves this, for how his contribution and performance were exactly amazing. He could give not only many common goals but also surprising goals that can save his club from suddenly having the chance to win in the late times. How many times Benema could save his club from loss and then turn them into victories...
He deserves this, he is a very talented player with high experience and professionalism, and what is more important is that he is not selfish when he is on the field, does not chase to always score goals, he can always consider who has the best chance to score goals, not only for him. because he plays for a solid whole team.

I also do agree that it is enough to debate about Ronaldo and Messi, both are great professional players, but they are in their era, let it be.

Karim Benzema won all the league titles and won the Ballon d'or 2022. Of course it was not an easy thing especially at Real Madrid he was still haunted by the figure of Ronaldo at that time, but finally now he is the main option in every game and is likely to extend his contract at Real Madrid until 2024.

Since he has no plans of retirement very soon with Real Madrid, I see he has a way of beating Ronaldo's all time goal scoring record for Real Madrid, I see Karim Benzema stand's third place after Raul in the ranking of the highest players who scored for Real Madrid. He was part of the contribution last season he deserves the Ballon d'or without much talking, it's a long season ahead he will still score lot of goals.

it's hard to catch Ronaldo's goalscoring record, Cristiano has scored 450 goals and that will be very difficult to catch, Benzema is 34 years old, maybe he is only a few seasons away from scoring goals.

However, Benzema's achievement to win the Ballon d'Or is commendable, he has always consistently shown his best performances in several seasons and he has always been a mainstay of Real Madrid in recent seasons and this is what he deserves when he is able to help the team achieve everything.

No doubts here Karim Benzema is the best player to get this very award and should be given the ballon d'Or Imo, but seem that they world cup coming into play next would be among the criterias that would be needed to judge who is gonna be fitted in to win this award.


I don't see this as becoming so easy for him to break that record,  except if he is very close to the number of goals already scored by Ronaldo during his stay at Real Madrid.

It hasn't only been the case for Benzema. Remember when Iniesta was very close to becoming the world's best player, but there was someone called Messi. I think there are a couple of examples across various kinds of sports (tennis) where a certain era is so dominated by some actors that even when you are absolute top world class, you probably got no chance to win such a title.

Haaland just scored two more goals. He might turn out to be such player again where no other striker can ever compete for the title of becoming the best striker of the season. You score 40 goals, fine, Haaland scores 50. The era someone is in obviously plays quite an important role. Benzema deserved it last season though because he was deadly as a striker in almost every single game and in a way that was impressive. So many goals that were super hard to score.

Benzema seems to me to be the deserved winner of last season. There were more players who did very well, but he was definitely the most efficient last season. Many people think that the balloon only goes to the first player, but it is the prize for the first player. Messi apparently wasn't even in the first 30 nominees, I think there are a lot of players who didn't belong on the list and Messi did, but Messi won the ball last year when everyone thought someone else should get it. Lewandowsky is quite old and there is also a lot of competition. I wonder if he will ever win it again in the future? Next time it will mainly be between Haaland and Mbappe, I think.

Well, without a doubt, I think that Benzema's victory was a given, and following the tradition of how FIFA takes all this into account, they are based on who wins in their local leagues + UCL and if they meet these conditions, obviously the winner would be, now of course, who broke all these conditions without a doubt someone was Messi, because he is like FIFA's favorite player, but to be more precise I still can't forget the day that the great Lewa was robbed of the Ballon d'Or, but since he is now in a team that relatively he survives with the good purchase of somewhat cheap players, but very good and famous, I don't know if he will meet expectations, now with everything that has happened with Lewa and being out of the UCL, it is more difficult for him to enter the Ballon d'Or aspirations.


I said that Mbappé would not enter even with a pressure key, because he is a player who is barely developing, with many things to mature, in these cases I think that a golden ball takes into account the attitudes of a player, in the how he reacts, how he is on the pitch when he does certain things, certain luxuries, how he gets along with the team, if he is a person who is somewhat human, who does not get carried away by fame, I think Benzema has all those characteristics, I can't deny that Lewa is very good, but I think he made a serious mistake by going to Barcelona, he would have stayed in the team he was in and wouldn't have missed out on the UCL.

The biggest contribution of Benzema to winning the award was the performances of Modric, Courtois and Vinicius. These three players really struggled a lot. Thanks to this, they won both La Liga and the Champions League. If it wasn't for that, Benzema wouldn't have won this award either. Already, if one of Messi or Ronaldo had performed a little better, they would have won the Ballon d'Or. I am also looking forward to who will win this year. Haaland is currently attracting attention as a favorite goalscorer for football fans all over the world. However, I am not sure if he will be able to win such a large-scale award.

Well, it actually seems to me that the Ballon d'Or was well sung for quite some time. What seems impressive to me is that Deschamps does not want Benzema in the French team, in fact he excluded him and said that not because he had won the Golden Ball he was going to put him in the French team, I do not know how much power he has, but he is very similar to the case of Ten Hag with CR7, it seems to me that they are technicians who are very arrogant and who do not accept that they need their stars, and if this is so, if France is taken out in the first round the It's entirely his fault for being so imposing and foolish.

it's almost that time again and this year's ballon d'or trophy will be awarded.
there is now officially a list with all the players' names (men as well as women) that can be voted for by the nations. the official winner will be announced in paris on october 30.
who would be your favorite to win the trophy? ;)
not nominated are Ronaldo, Neymar and Rashford...

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2023/09/07/mIcp8.jpeg

Here we go: the 2023 Ballon d'Or nominee list. I can't wait for this. It makes me laugh that Ronaldo wasn't nominated for the Ballon d'Or for the first time in 20 years, since 2003. The winner is already decided, and that is Messi.
There are several reasons why the 2023 Ballon d'Or will be won by Messi because he has had such a nice performance at PSG and Argentina. The reason is shown in the image below.
 

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2023/09/07/m32Aw.jpeg
Source (https://twitter.com/MessiFC_Woz/status/1699423655606866400?t=KfaqsUgwQVm-2oUhQIP7Zg&s=19)

i also read this news and Man City is the club that has the majority of the players who are nominated for the 2023 Ballon d'Or, haaland is predicted as the favorite choice this time because he managed to bring Man City to the UCL title and others, but i think he is still not worthy because his achievements in the national team are not that good.  anyway the most likely winner of the 2023 Ballon d'Or is Messi ^{(at the moment Messi is still the player with the most Ballon d'Or holders)}.  if messi manages to get the 2023 ballon d'or trophy then it will be his last trophy because there is no way he will be able to get it again when he plays for the MLS league right now.

Even though Messi won the world cup, I don't think his performance at PSG last season was good enough for him to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or. Most people know and think that even the world cup was rigged for him, so he didn't deserved to won it. For this reason, I can understand why most people believe that Messi deserves the award despite with the PSG poor performance at UCL last season. I think Haaland deserves to win the 2023 Ballon d'Or more than Messi because he scored more goals and won more trophies last season. The majority of people claim that Haaland is disqualified for the award because he lacks the necessary dribbling skills, but even Karim Benzema, who won it in 2022, cannot dribble as well as Messi.

It’ll be Messi, rightly or wrongly but winning the World Cup and being an absolute star in the tournament will swing it in Messi’s favour.

Haaland had a far superior domestic season but Messi will win it, I’m certain of it. This will be the last time Messi wins it though.

Of course for the nominations for the ballon d'Or 2023 which has great potential to get it is Messi if you look at the journey that is done one year back with PSG and Argentina, it cannot be doubted anymore, about haaland, I am still a new child, even though he gained popularity very high and shocking achievements with the achievements of the cave but it is not a guarantee that he will get it because it depends on Manchester City, the activity of football matches defending the country also makes one additional value for the winner. But indeed there is nothing else to make a rival besides him for a closer nomination.

To be honest, I was very disappointed because Ronaldo did not enter the nomination, Messi's fans would be more happy.lol

Everyone knows about it, bookmakers quote this event around 1.06  ;D
It's rather ironic that a pensioner-pedestrian will receive the prize at a time when a new generation of stars has already won everything they could. But such is the politics, in the end, this award turned into a clown award back in the days of Blatter, and although it was interesting to watch how Ronaldo was able to break the system, the essence has not changed.

Yes I also agree with you. Indeed, Erling Halland's first season with Man City was extraordinary because of his very, very good contribution throughout the season with Manchester City, especially in helping Man City achieve trophy winners.

But who will win the Ballon d'Or if you look at all the individual achievements, maybe Haland can be counted on to get the Ballon d'Or. However, Lionel Messi could also be worthy of getting the Ballon d'Or. If you look at Haland getting a triple winner and lots of goals + assists, but Lionel Messi also won (Copa America, finalissima and world cup) and Messi's goals + assists are also okay. So I also agree, the one who deserves the Ballon d'Or this year is Lionel Messi and this will be the last time he wins it.

Usually winning UEFA Champion League is parameter to be the winner of Ballon D'or but an exceptional when Lionel Messi keep dominance or he has bigger chance than Haaland. Winning FIFA World Cup 2022 is one thing make special achievement for Lionel Messi with his national teams but he has bad performance when playing with PSG last season after failure in Champion League. Actually Haaland is strong candidate for winning Ballon D'or but he don't have special performance with his national teams but with impressive achievement by winning three tittles with Manchester City last season could be important points why Haaland have to get Ballon D'or.

Its seems funny if Lionel Messi get Ballon D'or again because he plays with bad or not competitive league as MLS than Haaland played in Premier League  ;D.

I also think that it is going to be Erling Haaland. He has performed really well so far. Honestly, I do not think anyone is going to actually come close to that. But if we think about the World Cup winning from Lionel Messi, then nothing actually comes close to Lionel Messi as well.

And when I said Erling Haaland is going to be the winner of the Ballon d'Or, I did not remember the World Cup winning of Lionel Messi. if Lionel Messi is actually able to win the Ballon d'Or, I don’t think that record is ever going to be broken. If he does, it is going to be the eighth Ballon d'Or for Lionel Messi. And when we remember him getting this prize even when Lewandowski had a great performance compared to him earlier, I definitely start to believe that FIFA is really a little biased. That makes me believe that he is going to win the Ballon d'Or again.

I don't slightly think Messi could be considered to win an eight Ballon d'or  as he's playing for MLS, a weaker league compared to where champions league soccer is played and the pressure to perform is tested to the core.
Haaland might be a notable contender for the Ballon d'or, but he doesn't quite measure up with the criteria yet. He has to perform outside club matches like in the world cup, champions league. He has to increase his goal tally and consistency too. Am also confident this talk of Haaland is possible owning to the fact of a great manager in the person of Pep Guardiola. He managed Messi well at Barca and with Haaland under his wings, am sure he would polish him into a fine Ballon d'or winner.

Since French federation are in charge of the Ballon d'or, I hab the feeling they won't be supportive of Lionel Messi just as they did the last season of the Ballon d'or awards. They should be against him since Argentina won the world cup over France during the World Cup finals.
Erling Haaland scored too many goals to be ignored or deprived off the award. If he wins he will be the first player after Ronaldo won as a Manchester United player to do so in the Premier League. Erling achieved goals and awards with Pepsand Citys help.

I think yes, because winning the world cup is the most prestigious competition. Messi has a great chance to win the Ballon D'0r trophy again for the umpteenth time, supported by his very impressive appearance so that in the last final match Messi contributed a lot. With this achievement, Messi has a great opportunity to win the Ballon D'0r award again. even though in the Chanpions League, he failed to bring his team to a trophy.

While Haaland, the Manchester United star really deserves to win his first award. he and his team were able to win the treble winner trophy, even though in two crucial Champions League matches, Haaland was unable to show his best game and did not score a goal. but in any case, Haaland deserves to win the Ballon D'0r award. Uniquely, Messi previously stated that he was no longer interested in winning this award. however, he is included in the list of strong candidates to win the Ballon D'0r best player title. well, let's just wait and see who is the most worthy of these two players. although in truth, for me, these two players were extraordinary, even though they were in different eras.

FIFA is always making it difficult for one to tell the statistics they are using in picking the final winner, they are always changing it to favour a particular player. I could remember vividly 2010 Ballon D'or when they rubbed Wesley Sneijder the award who won the champions league with Inter Milan and finished as runner up in 2010 world cup with Netherlands, but Messi was chosen over him.

In this year's award, if they want to go by european success, then Erling Halaand should land the award but if the want to go by World cup (or World cup and europe), then I think Julian Alvarez is the best candidate. Winning the champions league alongside every other trophies Messi won like Copa America, Finalissima and World Cup gives him an edge over Messi.

I couldn't agree more with you. Simply by looking at how players have been chosen as Ballon d'Or winners in previous editions i think it's clear that Messi is likely to win and truly deserves it. While this might not be his best season ever and performance was going down in some moments with PSG, But considering his age and circumstances, he was undoubtedly the best player in the 2022/2023 season titles and stats. Without forgetting his outstanding performance in the World Cup where he led Argentina to win the final.
On the other hand, The Norwegian talent Haaland keeps improving each year and recently won the UEFA Champions League with Manchester City, establishing himself as the best striker in Europe this season and managing to score at least a goal almost in every match. I believe his chances would have been higher if Messi hadn't won the World Cup.

One more thing that i noticed it might be a first in the Ballon d'Or history, is that if Messi wins this edition he will be the first player received the award while playing for a non-European club. Since all previous winners were playing for European clubs.

This does not need to be speculated more or discussed about more. It is obvious that Messi will be the Ballon d’or winner for last season. His close rivalry Haaland that have been shortlisted really did well but the World Cup won by Messi is enough to give him an advantage over him. Haaland has already achieved a lot in his young age, by next ballon d’or event, I’m hoping to see Haaland close to winning it. Another player I hope to see coming this close to compete with Haaland is Mbappe, which I am sure if he performs well this season, he’ll be a worthy option for the ballon d’or winner together with Haaland.

Lionel Messi may likely win the Ballon D'or award of this year. The reason I said he might likely win is that any Ballon D'Or that is conducted in the year of the World Cup is always measured with the world cup performance. And with this, Messi won the  World Cup and he also did a good job at PSG. Apart from this, Haaland of Manchester City has a very intimidating stat to compare with that of Messi. When Messi do not have enough statistics to win such awards. It is always giving him now that he has such statistics and his major contender, Ronaldo is not in the contest. He has it.

  The only reason why they decide to give Messi another title is because he won the world cup and scored a good number of goals in the tournament asides that Haaland stand  better chance of winning it, he was without any doubt the player with the best performance last season and i wish he'll be chosen instead of Messi who's won about 7, making it more difficult for anyone in this generation to beat his record.
 Records are meant to be broken but it would take a very long time, before Messi Ballon D'or record gets broken by anyone, because he kerps setting new ones by beating the previous ones, if Messi wins this it would be his 8th Ballon D'or tittle, how is anyone going get up to níne Ballon D'or title after Messi retires from football that's why I'll prefer Haaland wins it.

I agree with you that Messi is the favorite to win the ballon d'or because he displayed an outstanding performance in the world cup which led to Argentina winning the world cup. It is quite surprising that the two players who played the finals and made it very  interesting, couldn't perform well in European leagues or was their poor performance the fault of their clubs because both of them are in PSG.

Haalad performed extraordinary in the European champion league and showed the potential that he got which was also part of the success of Man city. He won the tribble but this wouldn't still make him win the ballon d'or because Messi is more a genius than him in football history and for that reason he would be favoured by FIFA.

The main reason is corruption, everything else is not so important.
If you think otherwise, remember 2008-2012 when Spain achieved a treble (which other teams never dreamed of), but during this period Messi received 4 Ballon D'ors (failing at the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 South American Cup) and Xavi and Iniesta for two  were able to earn as much as zero  ;D

The FIFA World Cup tournament comes up after every four  years and as the most prestigious football competition, the best player of the tournament does end up as the Balon D'or winner of the year and that's why majority of people are backing Lionel Messi to win the prize that he's already won on seven different occasions which is the most by footballer.
Erling Haaland had an impressive season with Manchester City last season and helped the club to win their first ever treble which included their first UEFA Champions League trophy as well but in my own opinion, I don't even think he was the club's best player last season. If the Balon D'or winner should come from Manchester City, I think Kelvin De Bruyne stands a better chance of winning it.

Exactly,corruption is a major threat in the world. Halaad last season was everywhere and making good records in the matches last season,which shows some credibility for him to be able to win the ballon d'or. We all know that Messi is loved by FIFA and we have seen it in the past. This will make them give it to Messi and i have no doubt about it.

On the other hand Messi used the opportunities that he had during the world cup to prove to FIFA and the world that he is worth to be the winner with his outstanding performance. Another reason why Messi still have a higher opportunity to be the winner,is because the world cup is the highest competition in football and whoever wins the world cup has a better chance to be the winner. Now that Messi is old,i believe that it is an opportunity for Haalad and the other youngsters to competite for it.

I agree that Kevin even deserves it more than Haaland because he was very much more a player who influenced the team and created chances for Haaland to be very successful in the club in his first season.

Let's think of it, Another player who deserves it from Manchester City based on club performance is Rodri.

I agree with your opinion. Messi has shown extraordinary performance over the past season, especially with his achievements and playing ability, this shows that he deserves it. This gave him a strong enough lead to become the winner of the Ballon d'Or. Yes, Haaland also stands out with his achievements and certainly deserves this award in the future. It's true that Mbappe has great potential to rival Haaland, but I don't think only Mbappe will compete with Haaland. Kevin de Bruyne also has very good playing experience and his potential to compete with Mbappe is very large this season, but it all depends on their appearance and performance this season. So let's see who will dominate the Ballon d'Or awards in the future.

It's a big joke people still think Haaland, De Bruyne, Mbappe, Rodri, Osimhen, etc etc will win the Ballon d'Or.

It's already obvious Messi will win because we all know Ballon d'Or is rigged and FIFA always favoring Messi. This is the reason why Messi has the most Ballon d'Or, if not it will be Ronaldo. Xavi, Iniesta, Lewandowski, Kane, Ribery, or Neymar should be won, but Messi robbed it.

The two candidates between Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland have two different sides of the assessment and resistant, both of them have a very good achievement in the back season, I do not know what the percentage of each victory achieved by a player to increase his chances of winning Ballon d'Or, Maybe someone helped me.
Historically Erling Haaland got three quite prestigious trophies and also he was the top score, even so only victory with the national team he did not get it. From fans catching statistics, the possibility of Lionel Messi has a greater presight.
Pep might make him win the Ballon d'Or next season.

Hahaha even though they deserve the Ballon d'Or, but the view is that if there is still Messi in it all belongs to him.

You know that some time ago the FIFA president watched an Inter Miami match with Messi in it? Many theories he was watching his son, there were some other statements that this year's Ballon d'Or will have Messi too.

Just enjoy the event. Messi will go to the stage and take the Ballon d'Or. LOL

Why are you saying this mate although I know the balloon d'Or isn't the perfect award and it's root is rather full with some sort of corruption but I can tell you that Messi is an excellent player and if not any balloon Dior title he has won but this particular year when he won the world cup he surely deserves it because I think the world cup is certainly the most prestigious thing to win and he has been craving to win this title which he has finally done so gifting the balloon d'Or is the only reward worth given.

Haaland has broken all records this season. All football fans were mesmerized by Haaland's impressive performance. They can't steal this award from Haaland, public pressure would destroy the prestige of the Ballon D'or.

However, under normal circumstances I would have bet on Haaland, but because of your warning, I will not bet on this award ceremony. It really looks like a bit of a shady award ceremony. I will put my money on better bets.

People will counter your argument by saying World Cup is more precious because it happen once every 4 years while Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup happen every year. So the probability to win those league are higher than World Cup.

The probability of each player to win Ballon d'Or is:

Messi 95%
Haaland 1%
Mbappe 1%
Rodri 1%
De Bruyne 1%
Osimhen 1%

If Messi didn't win the World Cup, the probability Haaland could win will up to 50%.

It's no joke but if you look at the game statistics of all the players especially the young players the list is quite good and Haaland or Mbappe should be the two most worthy contenders to win the Ballon d'Or, but somehow FIFA always has its own way of selecting players who deserve this award.

Actually, it is unethical to say that the Ballon d'Or is rigged and that FIFA always favors Messi :D
But in reality that how it is and Ronaldo is always behind Messi in the assessment of the Ballon d'Or award.
Maybe Messi has become the golden boy for FIFA and he is the only player to have received this award the most in the history of football.

It's no longer news that Ballon D'or is characterized by politics and corruption. I usually have that belief in doubt until 2020 when everything was obvious and they used COVID-19 as cover up and excuse. Favoritism is playing a greater role between FIFA and Messi. This year is another chance for FIFA to prove us wrong that they're not bias and favor no player and the award is based on merit. If they eventually use world cup as the basis of measurement to deprive Haaland of well deserved award and favor Messi then, it's high time they stop organizing event for it. Messi should just collect it automatically every year.


How does this stats comes by? Messi having 95% probability is the biggest joke. This statistics practically mean Messi won the D'or award already. What was his individual contribution during the world cup? Ballon D'or is FIFA thing and they give it to whom they wish. We are however observing to see how they play their politics this year.

Well the bets are quite high, I personally have also felt at one Point that FIFA Favors Messi a lot, maybe on this occasion he can win it, for the simple fact that he beats things when it comes to doing something well for Messi. He can compete for another World Cup if he Stays , and what more incentive should be given to him to stay, if that's what it means , because I don't see why it won't be given to him, in particular I don't see both Haaland and Mbappé as deserving. Still, neither does the Belgian, and right now CR7, who is my favorite player, didn't come in, so I might think that yes, that FIFA could have something Rigged on this, and I'm sure that if we ask any Dutchman for their point of view There will be no doubt that what I say is completely right, the Dutch after Qatar were very bad, especially Van Gaal who threw a lot of harsh anger at a Messi who challenged him in the middle of the World Cup by making the Topoyi Gesture , something that really Bothered me. I liked the hat as he did it, in the same style as an Argentinian who doesn't care about anything. I liked that world because of all that, because they practically took off their clothes in the sun. There are chaos that happen, I really see that things are going in this direction, it gives me a thrill Because that spice is what is always missing in football and if FIFA is involved in that problem (as always) then it's not bad, I I like to see this kind of thing, because it's something different, things are getting hot.

FIFA has always been Involved in some little problems of this style, it is not a lie that a player who does not like it, a player who begins to be silenced little by little, then it is better to be in the most politically Accepted Position than to be in a Situation where the FIFA Little by little becomes silent about what a player is.

I'm eager to see what will happen with the Ballon d'Or, but to be Honest , to me that award doesn't mean much, the time they stole the Ballon d'Or from Lewa was Something quite Shameless.

This argument is just a mockery of common sense. Once again: in the period 2008-2012, Xavi and Iniesta won the European Championship twice + World Cup. Messi failed at the World Cup and the America's Cup. At club level they had the same achievements. And... Surprise! Messi received 4 Ballon d'Ors during this period, while Xavi and Iniesta received zero  ;D

Do you seriously want to discuss this cesspool of corruption award? In my opinion, Messi rather tarnished his image than became famous for silently receiving all these shameful awards.

Well, that of tarnishing his name perhaps for the 1% (hypothetical) of fans, who may have been bothered by seeing Messi win a Ballon d'Or.

Then, whether Messi wins a Ballon d'Or or not, it is not defined by his talent vs. performances, it is up to the journalists and specialists who choose it, for them in any case the stain you mention.

 The stain that Messi has carried every time he is chosen is left in his advertising contracts that improve or simply remain. :)

The fact that scammers, all kinds of thieves, feel great is known to everyone, and you haven’t discovered anything new here. Even the notorious corrupt official Blatter "Messi's father" was convicted of his crimes but got off with a trifling fine.
However, 99% of people don’t care about this, so we have what we have. Even if Djokovic or Magnus Carlsen win the Ballon d'Or tomorrow, few people will be indignant  ;D

I think Lionel Messi after his heroic performance in the FIFA World Cup last year deserves the Balon D'or even when I'm not his fan. He was the most important player for Argentine in that tournament and he delivered unbelievable performances that helped his country lift football's most prestigious trophy since they last did in 1986.
That being said, I think the above statistics is absolutely disrespectful to Erling Haaland after he helped Manchester City win treble last season. He is a serious contender for the Balon D'or and I don't see any reason why he should get just 1% while Messi gets 95%

If based on being able to win the world cup, the 2010 Ballon D'Or should have belonged to Iniesta, because he was the one who succeeded in bringing Spain to win the world cup. But in fact the one who got it was Lionel Messi because he saw his performance at Barcelona at that time. If the benchmark is as I mentioned, Haaland should have gotten it because of his performance at the club. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi, even though he was able to bring Argentina to the World Cup title, his performance at PSG was very poor. criticized by PSG ultras.

Will Haaland's Ballon D'Or Trophy be stolen by Lionel Messi like what happened to Lewandowski?? If true, then the assumption about FIFA's golden child is true. It really doesn't make sense if Haaland doesn't get it. Haaland's current situation can be described as holding the Ballon D'Or Trophy in one hand. If Haaland didn't win it, it means someone took it.

I definitely think that this time it is going to be Lionel Messi as well. FIFA is going to give him another Ballon d’Or and maybe this time it is going to be actually justified. After all, he had to do a lot of hard work to win the World Cup.

But I think this should be given based on performance, right? If there is a trophy given for winning the World Cup it is the World Cup itself. They do not need to give him another. At least that’s what I think. But of course, some people are still going to disagree with me.

I also think Messi will get at least 1 more Ballon D'or before he retires. I admit that Messi is a miracle in football. If CR7 is a picture of a hard worker, then Messi is a picture of a gift of talent from God. But that was Messi in his prime. Right now I think Messi is getting special treatment from Fifa. And that makes me think that at least Messi will get another Balllon D'or.

In terms of merits, for me Haaland is the undisputable one, but a lot has been said about Messi, also in the MLS a lot has been speculated about him where they say that things are regulated a lot for him, so I think that FIFA is really very biased. about the Ballon d'Or, it can be awarded to him for the simple fact that they don't want him to leave or retire from football yet, so these things look bad, I would think that things should be fairer, I don't dare either 'I'm not going to bet, because it would be like losing money, I would go for Haaland, because he is the one who has scored the most goals, I wouldn't even go for Mbappé, it seems to me that Mbappé's performance has not been worthy at all through what has shown in the last football season, but Messi is a very influential person and well, what they decide in FIFA is something that we can say that yes, they will give it to Messi, because as I said before when it was about Messi vs Lewa They took away the Ballon d'Or from Lewa because he had done much more merit for being in that position and with that award, but things in FIFA are managed under some interests that obey things that perhaps will give them more money in the future.

The Ballon d'Or seemed more exciting to me when it was between Messi and CR7 because it was something that was worth betting on, that is, not now, since they began to be more biased in FIFA with respect to that award, no longer. They choose those who truly deserve it, when it's the Ballon d'Or I understand the one with the most goals and the one with the best performance, so this is very debatable, because for me it would only be 2 Haaland and Mbappé, but obviously the things from now on with so much criticism that has been made to FIFA from Qatar, well I don't know what decision they have already made, because the winner is already there, but to be safer, I think whoever is going to bet, it would be on Messi , because it is only what FIFA would determine and everyone agrees on that.

You might think it's disrespectful, I also agree about that, but that's the reality. No matter how good you're and your contribution in football, Messi will win if he win something in international.

Well, that's different because Messi's popularity and Iniesta's popularity aren't same.

When Messi win something, there are 480 Millions people will talk about him, posting about him and celebrate it. But when Iniesta is win, there are only 40 Millions people do that, so the power of Messi is way more higher.

*The numbers come from their's Instagram followers.

Talking about this, whether it's a coincidence or not, the strong candidates for winning the Ballon D'or in the year after the world cup are key players from the national team that won the world cup. In 2002 Ronaldo Nazario won the Ballon d'Or even though in that year I thought Roberto Carlos was more worthy. In 2006 Cannavaro won the Ballon d'Or even though it is very rare for a defender to win in modern football.
So even though City won the treble, the influence of the World Cup is still very strong in influencing the value of the Ballon d'Or.

Haalad won three precious trophy last season, but Messi won the golden trophy which is the world cup. This has made him to be superior to Haalad in their achievement. This is the reason why Messi will win it. We all knew that apart from the world cup, Messi didn't put in a good performance in the European leagues.

Haalad performance in all leagues was superb but he wasn't able to do this in the world cup because his country didn't make it. I think that this will be the last Ballon'd 'or for Messi and this is the reason why Haalad should continue with his excellent performance so that he can win it next time, since the world cup wouldn't be used as a criterion.

Ballon d'Or would be awarded to the best player in the world of football currently. Erling Haaland and Leo Messi are in the picture interms of goals and performance put in winning significant trophies. Erling Haaland made quite a brilliant performance in his first season at Etihad Stadium, winning a treble with Manchester City but all these trophies are based on club levels while the undisputed GOAT won his first World Cup and also lifting a memorable trophy with his new club, Inter Miami making him the most decorated player in football history. However it would tough to choose the winner of this year Ballon d'Or.

It is true that the biggest difference that stands out only in the golden trophy that Lionel Messi gets with Agentina, this is enough thing that is difficult to get for Haaland, because after all the team is big in the process of getting it.

But the achievement of the trophy in my opinion is not the only benchmark, many other assessments that might be able to cover the shortcomings possessed by Haaland, who knows for this season has a different criterion in his assessment, even though I am also not sure.

Well I don't know how this would be tough to choose because if am not mistaking this particular award has been given to your so called GOAT  even in most years that it was very clear he didn't even deserved it so why would this year be any different I mean he won the number one trophy every player in his career have strived for which is the well decorated world cup.

I believe this selection will be closer than ever before and I am not sure whether Haaland is yet able to take that award away from Messi. But if I was asked to vote, I think on an individual level Haaland had the more impressive total performance and it is somehow unfair but also comprehensible when the World Cup ultimately counts more than the treble. I think it is a difficult decision and I am looking forward to that result. The World Cup was also the final chapter of the Messi fairytale, which could also have some meaning for those who are eligible to vote. They might think that it is no issue if Haaland gets it sometime later.

I honestly don't understand the criteria they have used to award these awards, but in my opinion it's time to retire Messi and Ronaldo from these awards and focus on other players like Mbappe and Haaland, the contributions Mbappe made to France are very visible. World Cup and at PSG, he is without a doubt a very talented player, but it seems that Messi will not be dethroned yet, and when I talk about dethroned I am referring to not putting him on that list. the guy has already won everything and now he's playing on a team without much relevance and yet the guy still appears on these lists. This way, new generation players won't be motivated

Just look at the fact that for more than 5 years, Ronaldo and Messi have monopolized these big prizes and the attention of the news channels, even if another player appears and wins something, not much attention is given, it was necessary for Messi and Ronaldo to go to lower teams quality for them to reduce the attention of sports news channels a little, now they also no longer appear on these individual award lists, the guys must retire and make way for new players. It's true that there won't be a competitive duo like Messi and Ronaldo anytime soon.

I see that Karin Benzema could also win an individual award, but the fact that he didn't play in the World Cup and Real Madrid didn't manage to win something must weigh heavily on him not winning, I also don't see Vinicus winning anything. That's why Messi and Haaland are the most likely winners

I'm already tired of listening to tales about the World Cup and its importance  ;D
Maybe you can explain to me how Xavi and Iniesta, who won the 2010 World Cup (where Messi completely failed - zero goals and zero assists) did not receive the Ballon d'Or?  ::) And in addition to this, Xavi and Iniesta won the European Championship in 2008 and 2012. But Messi (who was unsuccessful at the 2011 Copa America) received four Ballon d'Ors.

This is all true what you said, but I think we have a problem with the fine line here that should be drawn between performance and titles. If we overvalue the weight of titles for this award, Haaland will never win a European Championship and never win a World Cup, but that should not prevent him from winning this award as this doesn't say much about his individual strength and performance as a player. Then again it feels kind of normal to include titles and the World Cup is the biggest title one can win. But here is the problem: I really don't know what to think of Mbappe winning Ligue 1 with PSG. I agree that Mbappe is definitely one of the best three players in the world. For me there is no doubt, but it was also his choice to play some soccer in an inferior league with a massively financially ballooned PSG agains the rest of the country. I don't know, it is not easy.

Haaland would never be a wrong choice as he his down to earth, modest, very authentic and hard working and most important, incredibly successful. Messi is still the best in terms of precision and passing accuracy, understanding of the game dynamics, changing the game dynamics however he wishes, and smartly scoring. He doesn't use force, which I really like.

I also think that Kevin De Bruyne is one of the best midfielders ever to play this game.

What I can say is that from 2008 - 2017 was the era of Messi and Ronaldo's rivalry. I think this was a bias so that at that time people only saw 2 people as great players who deserved to win the Ballon d'Or. At that time they both dominated the world of football statistically. That period was also a period of rivalry between the two of them. I think that's what made the Ballon d'Or in that era only have the names of 2 players.

Apparently you are far from football or haven’t seen it carefully  ;)
No one will probably argue about the era (although there is an obvious question about the boundaries of this era), but if we are talking about separate years, then many football players could qualify for the Ballon d'Or . For example, in 2010, besides Xavi and Iniesta, about whom I already wrote, such football players were Sneijder and Forlan (I’m sure few people will remember why, haha, because people are guided by what the TV tells them).

I won't explain why Messi received those golden balls. Messi surpassed Xavi, Iniesta, and even his rival Ronaldo to receive the Golden Ball in those years continuously. This is fair, and there will be no bias here. People are skeptical because he has so many Golden Ball titles in his career. Even the recent World Cup championship was the focus of everyone's discussion.
Even though he moved to Inter Miami this summer, Messi is still a strong candidate for the 2023 Golden Ball title. If he continues to hold this title, I'm curious to see what other stories the media will come up with.

Are you from some sect? Or you were banned from Wiki and you cannot see that during the period 2008-2012 Xavi and Iniesta won 2 European Championships plus the World Cup. During this period, Messi failed at the World Cup and was not successful at the Copa America. At the club level they had the same achievements (you know that they played in the same team?) so it is undeniable that Xavi and Iniesta were >>> than Messi during this period, but Messi received 4 Ballon d'Or and they got zero.
Messi is just the son of the bastard corrupt official Blatter and that says it all.

Obviously he's a Messi fan, who's not happy when his role model win something a sexy or huge achievement?

Although I hate Messi because he's treat unfairly by FIFA, but it's not mean I'm a Ronaldo fan. After all I just want the right person get the right reward, it's a big joke to see a good reward is rewarded to wrong person.

Remember this, when Ronaldo is joined Saudi Pro League aka not competitive league, he's not included in Ballon d'Or nomination. However Messi is joined MLS aka not competitive league too, but I 100% believe he will be one of nomination in the next Ballon d'Or.

Hahahaha!!!!. We might later discover that Sepp Blatter received kickballs from Lionel Messi. The Swiss was so corrupt that he was disgraced out of FIFA. However, it seems that there is still some corruption ongoing within the organizer of the Ballon d’Or. The 2021 award that was won by the Argentine was fraudulent. A German newspaper called a scandal and the organizers received widespread criticism. Even a child knows that Messi didn't deserve the award because Robert Lewandowski's performance was far better. But the German striker was robbed of a golden opportunity to be the world's best and I doubt if he would have such privilege again.

Messi won the World Cup and so what? He doesn't deserve to win the Ballon d’Or again in his lifetime. He is no longer playing active club football because the US league is a jamboree. This is the time of Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr., and Victor Osimhen.

The fact that Messi stole from Lewandowski is normal - after all, he is a competitor in every sense, there is nothing to be ashamed of (except for the fact of theft itself). What makes me laugh more is the piquancy of the situation where Messi robbed his teammates - Xavi and Iniesta, and the fanboys easily justify this  ;D

I don't think Messi will win the Ballon d'Or because he won the World Cup. If he wins this time, I will question what is behind it. I think too it's definitely time for players like Halaand, Osimhen and Lewandowski. Ronaldo and Messi are already old and playing in non-competitive leagues. It is necessary to choose from highly successful players from European leagues. I'm not a fan of anyone, but I think Haaland deserves this award last season.

I agree with this discussion and indeed players like Messi, Ronaldo or Lewandowski are star players who can bring popularity to the world of football so far but to be able to have someone who deserves to win the most prestigious individual title Ballon d'Or then they have to step down and FIFA should start now this gives young players the opportunity to win this title.
With young players succeeding in winning the Ballon d'Or more and more other young players will flock to continue to improve their playing skills so they can also have the same opportunity.

A little feedback if only Haaland and Mbappe were the strongest candidates to win the Ballon d'Or then I would fully support Haaland as the winner of this title because even though Haaland has never participated in winning the World Cup at least he played very well and even managed to surpass other top senior players.

Talking about eras, I know that there was a year when Messi didn't deserve to win the Ballon D'or. I myself have said that in the era of rivalry between the two players, what the world was highlighting at that time was the two of them. Sorry if you think I'm a Messi fan.


Although if we talk about FIFA then I think Messi will be nominated and even win the award again. I think you know what I mean. But for me Haaland is more deserving of the Ballon D'Or this year. His performance with City was very impressive. And he's still young too. So as you have said, this will certainly motivate other young players.

As time went by many people began to not be able to believe in the fairness of FIFA regarding the individual Ballon d'Or title and perhaps several times Messi was player who actually did not deserve this title but in the end in the last few seasons Messi has always been part of FIFA main choices to be able to have more Ballon d'Or.
And from here FIFA started to make Messi the golden boy where there was no chance for other players to become the best player and bring home the Ballon d'Or trophy which is one of the trophies for the best players.

Yes I know what you mean and with all that can you still trust that FIFA, which is the biggest federation for football can always prioritize fairness in assessing the greatness of players who are entitled to this title?

We all believe Haaland will be superior and more worthy of the Ballon d'Or title for this year.

We all know how corrupt FIFA is and how they carry out massive corruption. But what can we do? Are there other World Football Federations besides FIFA? We don't believe it but in the end everything will be recorded in history. Maybe those of us who have seen the CR and LM era know about this but what about future generations? In the end, the most realistic possibility is that Messi will win the trophy again and it will be next year before players like Haaland or Osimhen have the opportunity to get the Ballon D'or.

I do think that the majority of every football fan do believe that Haaland will get this but we should also remember that not every year the one that deserves it the most ended up getting it. Lets realize that Messi won the world cup and the world of football may want to give him the reward one last time.

Not that I would be bold enough to say that he deserved it more than Haaland, that dude was the core piece and the highest scorer of a team that won the premier league, fa cup and UCL all on the same season which could be one of the hardest things ever and not many teams has done it for a long time. But at the same time not everyone who deserves it gets it like I said, which means that we are going to see Messi having a possibility of winning this one as well and should be thought about when betting if you are betting on this.

I think you mentioned an important issue here and that is the lobby of Messi in the world is still bigger. But he also really won something and it has always been a pleasure to watch him play. I agree that Haaland rocked all competitions and it's a pity that Norway most likely won't make it very far in a World Cup in the foreseeable future. This puts him at a disadvantage every few years when this award is given. But I think I would be ok with any of these two guys to get the reward. I don't think it would feel like betrayal or anything as both have done incredible things in that season and Haaland deserves it a bit more, but Messi wouldn't be a bad winner.

The truth seems to me that these things are quite obvious, we all know that the undisputed winner must be Haaland, no matter who else, but we don't know if the plans will change from one moment to the next, let's remember that FIFA is as you say, It is very corrupt, it is still seen that corruption still exists, it is not worth saying too much, but what has been speculated in UEFA with Barcelona's victories, which are quite speculative, since many think that in fact they did cheat managers, some referees have already come out saying yes, they were bribed, then in this order of ideas we can think wrong, the FIFA World Cup was also highly criticized, where it is said that it had a lot of help from the president of FIFA, The Dutch soccer federation said it through Van Gaal, and even though that was for me the best match in the world, I think ARGENTINA won it based on its own effort and dedication, I didn't see any trap there, but later One of those games began with the controverse.

After all these things, now the VAR, which is one of the elements that is used to avoid cheating, I don't like the rule that if the main referee does not consider not seeing the VAR, it is not Reviewed, that seems very bad to me, because That lends itself to an act of Absolute performance , so There can be traps there, at least in the last World Cup qualifiers in South America, I felt that they robbed my country, so if they do it here, which is for a World Cup qualifier What can you expect for the major world trophies, in this case the gold medal? What would happen if Messi took it? and they give it to him so that he doesn't retire yet, but yes, it could happen because if they put Messi in and they took out CR7, then isn't this a preference on the part of FIFA? Although the Ballon d'Or is not so decisive, it should be taken seriously, because I still Remember that when they stole the Ballon d'Or from Lewa and precisely gave it to Messi.

I'm confused about that too. I mean why if the main referee doesn't consider looking at VAR then it won't be reviewed? I know that some of the reasons are that if the referee requires VAR to look every time a controversy occurs, then it is certain that the match will last longer than usual. But I think FIFA should also make definite rules about that. This is too vague. I'm not too familiar with VAR rules technically but I think this still leaves a bit of confusion in my head.

Hahaha, those who have power will always prioritize their own stomachs or in other words seek profit at any cost to always have certain amount of money from all available opportunities.
I don't know what actually happened in the parliament governing the world football association or FIFA so that there are so many people who are starting to distrust every FIFA decision but indeed so far FIFA is considered bad in any assessment one of which is the Ballon d'Or.

For the development of football there are several things that are quite good and supported by all football fans and there are also some decisions that are considered unfair so that in the future FIFA must be able to change the way they evaluate players who are entitled to Ballon d'Or.
Even last year when Messi became the holder of this title star player Ronaldo was not included in the list of 30 candidates for players who could have the opportunity to win the Ballon d'Or.

In the future it looks like there will be several new names that might be included in the list made by FIFA like last year with 15 new names for the candidate list.

FIFA have bad reputation exactly about corruption, they looks arrogant when making some competition change without looking aspect or agreement with players or not like move FIFA World Cup 2022 In Qatar about matches schedule from middle year to end year. For Lionel Messi adn Cristiano Ronaldo era we see many fact about bad or not fair about who have been the winner of Ballon D'or. As Cristiano Ronaldo fans many of them disagree when Lionel Messi winning Ballon D'or but have the same disagreement when Ronaldo become the winner of Ballon D'or.

You are saying a lot of important things here, but if this is still valid, I would like to quote how the selection for the 2023 Ballon d'Or voting format (https://www.90min.com/posts/how-does-ballon-d-or-voting-work-nominees-format-explained) works:

!The Ballon d'Or victor is decided by 100 journalists from FIFA's 100 top-ranked member nations. Each journalist makes their top five picks from the 30-man shortlist, with each ranking earning a different points value/number of votes.

First: Six points
Second: Four points
Third: Three points
Fourth: Two points
Fifth: One point
As you'd expect, the player who picks up the most points in voting is named that year's Ballon d'Or victor."

This means it is the journalists who make their picks and I think that once a player established so much prestige and influence in the world of football, and maybe the kids of those journalists are Messi fans, the chance for Messi to get voted over Haaland is quite big. Messi's style is unmatched whereas Haaland's scoring statistics at his age are unmatched. But when journalists can choose, it is almost safe to say that there is a highly subjective element involved in the process. It is also about likability and simply when people are fans of Messi and are in a position to cast a vote, it is normal that they will cast their vote for Messi. Maybe a more independent jury is needed.

Haaland or Messi, both really deserve the Ballon D'or based on their contribution to the team they play for. Haaland played quite well for Manchester City, he was an important actor in Manchester City's success in winning the treble winner last season. Meanwhile, Messi did not help PSG much, but his role for the Argentine national team allowed him to extend the record for most wins to eight. Whoever wins the Ballon D'Or from these two names, there is nothing wrong in the process of determining the winner this time, because both of them have played a big role in the success of the team they played for in winning the prestigious title.

This is exactly my take and taught on this particular system of voting when it comes to the ballon Dior award, there is too much that point out that the whole system need to be trashed out or needs more independent jury. I don't know of this year award but I think it's fair to say that either Messi or halland deceive it because of the achievement that they have enquired for this year of their football career, but aside from this year competition,there are cases of players who deserved the award much more than the FAMOUS TWO but because of the cheap nature of the voting system the award was given to either RONALDO or MESSI

You say that Messi did not help PSG much, but how do you explain that Messi was the second best scorer in Ligue 1 with I think 1 point behind Mbappe? Do you call that "not much of a help"? I think that is a huge exaggeration and Messi did contribute a lot to PSG's small successes, but they did not win the Champions League and this is what the fans blame him for, which is of course ridiculous.

I like them both Haaland and Messi and since I am a fan of Messi, I would still be happy for him if he wins it, but if Haaland is the chosen one, I would also say tha the right player received the award.

Sometimes I'm surprised by the people who say bad things about Messi. What this means is that FIFA may appear to support Messi, but can Messi then be criticized and said that he is incompetent? I agree with some of the users' arguments about whether or not Messi deserves the Ballon D'Or this year. Messi is a great player. People don't like seeing Messi because he is a Ronaldo fan? Seriously, I love these two legends and I'm happy to be able to live in their era.

One thing about the Balon d'or is that it is a sentimental award; it doesnt necessarily satisfy and rewards based on activity on the football pitch; but rather on the sentiments of voters who are (country captains, club captains, journalists etc). Who ever wins between Haaland and Messi; just know they got the most votes

That's true. However, what makes the Ballon D'Or selection crucial is because those who win the Ballon D'Or will go down in history as the best players in the world that year. Elections may be sentimental but what happens after winning is what matters. Perhaps the Ballon D'Or is the only best player award that is very influential for a player to be known. I have rarely come across a best player award like the Ballon D'Or in other sports. Or maybe it's just me who doesn't know yet?

People will say anything they want about you if you are humble, don't talk much or brag about your position, this is the kind of person Messi is and that's why people say whatever they like about him, more often than not the negative aspect. Messi is the kind of player that don't say lots about himself whenever he is been asked about players of all time but if they should redirect that question to Ronaldo, he will be quick to say he is the best player ever had but man forgot that football doesn't start and end with goals, Messi had everything you need as a footballer and that is settled when he won the World Cup.

I'm not an oracle but this Ballon D'or is going home with Messi, Halaand deserve one but he wouldn't get hold of it, not this year maybe after this and probably there is going to be some kind of special reward they will give him the way they did to Mane after been ranked in the second place in the 2022 Ballon Dór award night. The world cup is the only thing that is giving Messi this advantage over Halaand and this could be his last because he is no longer focus on Europe any longer.

Well said as there is nothing to complain about when Messi wins another FIFA award or Ballon D'Or. The point is that Messi has countless of fans around the world and also among journalists and football officials from the large associations. It is quite normal that at some point his reputation and recognition is set in stone and people love him for how he still played and how he has played in the past. Psychologically I understand when is hardcore fans feel that he should become it again and honestly, I think Messi is still the best player in the world who now lacks speed. But his skills as a player on the pitch are unmatched in my opinion.

Regardless of FIFA playing a role here to help Messi or not, another factor that determines the Ballon D'Or is the voting of selected players, coaches, legends and sports journalists from around the world. If we talk about fans, maybe Ronaldo is number one because he has the most followers in the world on Instagram. However, it could be that more people who voted supported Messi than Ronaldo. Yes, whatever it is, I think Messi deserves the Ballon D'Or even though there is a bit of controversy there.

I do feel like it has to come from the number of goals scored and work rate in a single season but everything has changed to voting. If voting be the case then, Lionel Messi would have the upper hand in the case of voting. He won the FIFA World Cup Competition, won La Liga and had the best contribution in the World Cup.

Erling Haaland has scored too many goals, won all three Competitions broke so many records in his first season in the Premier League, it would be great to see someone finally meeting up with Cristiano Ronaldo being the only Ballon d'or award winner in the Premier League.
Anyways, Lionel Messi for me, he deserves it.

The thing is that this is what they are considering now, in the World Cup qualifiers in South America things are being like this right now, which seems to me to be not the norm, I don't like it, and it lends itself to corruption, so on the one hand It hurts and on the other hand it harms, because if they invented and accepted the VAR they must use it, because that is what it is for, no human being has the accuracy of what they have, in this sense what we can do is that it can have more visibility, and Furthermore, the good thing about VAR is that it is shown to everyone, and you can see and be a participant that there is no type of trap, it is because things began to be shown a lot with so much transparency, because things can move if they don't. They were in favor of it, then they began to complain and unfortunately FIFA listened to them and they were able to take that step.

Now, things with the Ballon d'Or can move that way too, many speculate that the undisputed winner will be Haaland, but it is not ruled out that it could be Messi, although I think that could be a sign of great impudence, but we are accustomed to this in FIFA, I think that when things are treated how to do so that they can generate more negative comments, I hope that things improve, because the reputation they have is quite cruel, and well, we all know that the most The best thing he has done to receive the prize is the Viking, however we have to wait, I'm not sure, but another winner could come out there, which could leave us totally disconcerted regarding their opinions, and returning to the VAR Well , they should be a little more transparent, because obviously things are not very clear, this is just what I think , I know that many can think like that, or others can maybe hope that Messi is there , but I don't see it anymore like the first one, because obviously they are not there to do Things like that and tarnish the good path of fútbol.

Wait, is it true that only Cristiano has ever won the Ballon D'Or from the Premier League? I haven't gotten any information like that. But if that is true then this will be biased because what is called the Best League in the world does not have many players who have won the Ballon D'Or. For me, Haaland deserves it, but Messi also had extraordinary achievements last season. So this will probably be our competition. Let's just wait for the voting results.
And it looks like the Ballon D'Or awards will be held on October 30 (CMIIW) and there are only a few days left to add to our discussion list here.

A few minutes ago I saw this post by Fabrizio Romano on his Instagram:


source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy0xd86oQt9/

It seems that Messi will win once again, this will probably be his last victory, but it will be something to go down in history and I highly doubt that the next talented players who have at least the same level as Messi, will not be able to have as many 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐝'𝐎𝐫 like Messi. It seems to me that it will take many, long years before we see a player like Messi, there was Ronaldinho Gaucho in the past, but he didn't manage to win many 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐝'𝐎𝐫, he only managed to win just 1 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐝'𝐎𝐫 and looking at the current players I would say that we will hardly see them winning the same player consecutively or having many 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐝'𝐎𝐫

As soon as Messi and Ronaldo retire, then the game will be much more competitive because all the players will be at the same level, there will no longer be a player who is much superior to the rest of the players, and the attention of the news channels will also no longer be the same. Same as now that there's still Messi. That's why it will be something historic if Messi wins again against 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐝’𝐎𝐫

You pretend that you don’t understand the problem - the one who is recognized as the best should show not just “average” results in the farm league, but something truly amazing, as Haaland did. Messi was knocked out of the Champions League in the 1/8 finals two times in a row without scoring or assisting. The fact that he will receive another stolen Ballon d'Or is only evidence of ongoing corruption.

I've said it before that Messi does not deserve the Ballon D'or but I won't be surprised if he wins it because they've rigged it in the past in his favour, so they could do it again. Halaand is the best candidate to land this award based on his stellar performance for his club last season, helping Manchester City to triple trophies; EPL, FA cup and the champions league. He also finished as the top scorer in both the champions league and EPL. If FIFA wants to use the world cup as a yardstick to judge both of them, then the Ballon D'or should go to Julian Alvarez.

Congratulations for the another robbery, now the guy is very happy because he own the most Ballon d'Or in history and not really easy to overtake him unless they use a same strategy like this guy did e.g. bribe. I already expect he will win, just like I predicted him in few months ago.

I guess we will see the true competition in the next year since this guy no longer playing in competitive league.

https://i.ibb.co/LdRH6fs/Messi-es-protagonista-de-memes-por-su-penal-fallado.png

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that this kind of thing happen and bribes are a norm in the football scene for a long time now, I mean look at the Qatar's bid to be the venue for FIFA World Cup, wasn't that bid also was exposed to be rifed with corruption so I don't know why we are so shocked that bribery is a way to earn prestige.

Congratulations to Messi for another robbery. This is an excerpt of Messi's speech after winning the Ballon D'or:

“Haaland and Mbappé will win the Ballon d’Or one day”.

"Erling deserved it very much too, he has won Premier League, Champions League while being the top scorer of everything. This award could have been yours today too...”

Even Messi knows he didn't deserved it, he knows it's a parting gift from FIFA to him. They just want to make him the only player in history with the highest number of Ballon D'or.

Actually I don't want to discuss this and previously I was not a fan of Messi or Ronaldo. Maybe we all know that the competition between Ronaldo and Messi has been going on for 15 years and both of them are competing for the Ballon D'or title. Along the way, we also know that there are often robberies from both of them, but Messi does that more often. Last night's Ballon D'Or event was also another robbery from Messi and everyone knows that the real winner was Erling Haaland who won the treble and scored more than 50 goals in one season in all competitions. Maybe Messi did win the world cup last season with Argentina and that was indeed an extraordinary achievement, but for club achievements he cannot provide decent statistics, even after leaving PSG he joined the MLS team.

It feels unreasonable and it's also certain that an event like this has become a joke because a few days ago the Ballon D'or winner was also leaked through various media and this makes this event seem meaningless. If the thing that made Messi win the Ballon D'or was becoming world cup champion, then what happened to Kylian Mbappe, who also succeeded in bringing France to world championship in 2018? Moreover, he was still very young at that time and the one who won the Ballon D'or that year was Luka Modric because he succeeded in bringing Croatia to the final round of the 2018 world cup. In the last two editions of the world cup, Kylian Mbappe was also a victim and not only Erling Haaland who get the same treatment.

Congratulations to Lionel Messi, I must admit his talents are extraordinary and he should not be considered someone from planet earth.
I can go on to say both of his Ballon d'ors are not worth with but who am I? Congratulations to him again for making him eight time winner!

There's no need for much lamentations and lamenting. For players like Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, they should focus on what's ahead at most Kylian Mbappe.
The deed and whatsoever cheating has been done, now it's time for them to plan ahead. Erling Haaland if he works hard again would, but could be tough to achieve in the Premier League.

Cristiano Ronaldo after fifteen years, remains the only player to have won the Ballon d'or from the Premier League!

Exactly, as the best in the world you need to show more than an average performance which Haaland did, he won the champions league, premier league, FA cup as well and was the highest goal scorer in the premier league, he scored nearly 50 goals and they say it’s not enough, so ridiculous ;D. Most people who think like @temple here are just blind messi fans who just don’t want to admit the fact that this is pure robbery, Haaland was robbed this year and even messi himself admitted Haaland deserved it. Messi did nothing spectacular this year he only won the world cup and why didn’t players who won the world cup back in the years messi won Ballon D’or win the Award? The france Award is corrupt and it is not awarded based on merit anymore because this is an obvious robbery and i can never take the Ballon d’or award seriously anymore.

Messi went to PSG and failed to show impact and ran to the MLS and still couldn’t show any real impact in the MLS league, his team have been suffering back to back losses and are about to be relegated and they still went on to gift him the award, it’s so funny.

I am most excited about the achievements of Lionel Messi right now including the most recent one which is the 8th 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐝’𝐎r. Messi is invariably the best player in the history of football right now as he has won almost the highest football competitions in his career.

From 10 La Liga, 7 Copa Del Rey, 1 Trophee Des Champions, 8 Spanish Super Cup, 3 Club World Cup, 3 UEFA Super Cup, 2 League 1, 1 Copa America, Finalissima and World Cup each, 6 Golden Boots, 8 Ballon d'Or amongst others.

Congratulations to Messi on the great mark achieved. Congratulations to Barcelona. Congratulations to Argentina and other major teams he had played in.

Messi winning the Ballon d'Or for the eighth time is not surprising, but CR7 Ronaldo (third) and Haaland (second) were also contenders for winning the Ballon d'Or, but the best Lionel Messi beat all the odds. Salute boss, your only comparison is yourself.

It finally held and Lionel Messi was awarded the Ballon d'or winner for the eighth time. Yeah! Cristiano Ronaldo stands as the only player who has won the Ballon d'or from the Premier League.
I don't consider them as the best no more, they're only having good marketing strategies. They're are not worthy to be called the best league in the world.

Lionel Messi helped PSG a big time. People who fail to see that are blind. Too much was expected from him, he was also doing both jobs, that of midfielder's and that of the attackers. Because of tue standards he has set at Barcelona, they really wanted seeing another top Performance from him at PSG, but I'm so sorry he couldn't!

As we celebrate Lionel Messi, I also want to celebrate two Nigerian players who made it to the Ballon D'or ranking of this year. They are Victor Osimhen of Napoli who ranked number 8 in the list of rankings and Bukayo Saka of Arsenal who made it to the ranking too coming as the number 24th of the 30 total number of rankings.

Victor Osimhen has performed very well in the Serie A, Napoli club. In this season alone, he had appeared 8 times, started 7 games and scored 6 goals for the club. In last season, his appearance totaled 32 where he started 30 matches and scored 26 goals as well as making 4 assists of goals. Although he's weak in terms of offside awareness but he's very good in finishing. I think those are the reasons he had to appear at the first 10 of that list.

Bukayo Saka on the other hand, has played greatly well in the Premier league for the Arsenal club of London derby. Although Saka plays for England at the international games, Saka is a Nigerian by origin and will have the right to switch back to Nigeria national team if he wishes. In this season, Saka has appeared in 12 matches and started in all of the 12 matches with 5 goals and 5 assists. In the last season, he had made a total of 48 appearance and started in 42 of the those matches but scored 15 goals and assisted in 11 of the club's goals. Saka is good in crossing, holding on the ball, finishing and making key passes but a bit weak at tackling and concentration.

Who else should win it in the list of nominees? Haaland? of course no because he is a player that is not too good when their team is not attacking which why he score less goals this season when a player that is feeding him with long balls is injured and his team Manchester City are finding it difficult to score goals.

Messi is great player but I don't also think he deserve this Ballom d'Or this time because the team he played for last season which is PSG is in a league that is not that competitive, and Messi and other good players like Neymar, Mbappe and others cannot help them win Champion's League last season; for that reason, Haaland deserve it more based on club performance because Messi only Win World Cup, League one and small trophies while Haaland won Champions League, Premier League, Super Cup and FA Cup.

Just because he succeeded with Argentina in winning the 2022 World Cup, Messi won the Ballon d'Or for the umpteenth time and this really makes us a little disappointed with what FIFA did in selecting the winner of the Ballon d'Or trophy.
FIFA should prioritize young players and there is no need to make Messi their golden boy because in the future Messi will soon retire from football.
In my opinion, Haaland will get it and take home the Ballon d'Or trophy and when Messi was announced as the winner we smiled in disappointment at the decision.

Haaland only got the Gerd Mueller Trophy and this award was given because of Haaland great achievements last season by having 59 goals.

If you look at who has won the awards since 1956 (excluding the Ronaldo and Messi era), you can see the years of football's glamor. Football is not a game like Basketball, where a match with a clear favorite ends with the clear favorite winning 99% of the time, and football is a game that has the potential to surprise the audience at any moment by presenting unexpected scenarios. The players who have won the Ballon d’Or have gone down in football history thanks to this aspect of football that can offer different stories.

Some of them won the award for their determined struggle to lead a mediocre team to the championship in the top league, some for leading a team to the first championship in its history, some for putting in a performance that stood out much more than forwards despite being defenders. After Messi and Ronaldo became the billion dollar advertising stars of the football world, the Ballon d’Or has evolved into something different. I think the awarding of the prize to Luka Modric in 2018 in the last decade was a reflection of the "old Ballon d'Or". I don't care about this award.

IMO it was not fair. Messi didn't played well in his present club compared to the performance of Ronaldo in at El Nasir. I believe he actually won the Ballon d'Or because of the world cup he won and he had performed and manage his countries team to win.

Earlier today I had some conversations about this and led to some argument with my freind and neighbor. Most of them were sentimental because they love Messi and a loyal fan to him. One of them said something that changed my mindset. He said in other to win the Ballon d'Or it does not depend on the voting strength its different now. What is important is your input to the team you play with. When Mudrich won the Ballon d'Or he won world cup and played very well and his impact to his team was top notch.

Just win a world cup and you win the Ballon d'Or

Ballon d'Or is no longer something you win; it's something you're given. It's not a reliable measure of football performance anymore. If we're comparing achievements like the World Cup (Messi) and the treble (Haaland), then shouldn't Alvarez win the Ballon d'Or since he's won both?

FYI, this award isn't decided by a committee. It's determined by votes from 100 journalists representing various nations. Each journalist has one vote.

Acceptable or not with final decision Lionel Messi won Ballon D'or in this year although he hasn't not well performed with his current team such as PSG or Inter Miami but he won FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar with his national team Argentina. Indeed many controversial about Lionel Messi won Ballon D'or due related with Erling Haaland have good performed and scored many goals with Manchester City but he achievement treble winner from FA Cup, Premier League, UEFA Champion League and completed become top scorer is not important because he loss compete from Lionel Messi won Ligue 1 tittle and FIFA World Cup to be Ballon D'Or winner.

Due not transparent with vote announcement, I am not really sure with all vote favorite for Lionel Messi winning Ballon D'Or, they have see aspect or another achievement from Lionel Messi and his contribution exactly with his previous teams Inter Miami failed lead to playoff round in MLS League.

That's why Messi won, he has a big name, so people will close their eyes with the other nominations and choose him. You're wrong if you say football performance isn't a measure to win Ballon d'Or, FIFA itself already mentioned it their rules.


Haaland fill this two categories, he's very good in the field and he respect to everyone.

While the another guy who won the Ballon d'Or is only score by penalty kick where everyone can do that and he taunted Netherlands back because he was angry, there's no good behavior.

https://i.ibb.co/TKGHrpQ/4449421.jpg

You are right, FIFA manipulated the winner and that was why they gave it to their boy Lionel Messi. I still believe that football is not over yet and as the youngsters are coming up, we will still have another great name that will break Messi record on Ballon d'or, and this time that youngster might win it up to 10 times.

Now that the two rival are out of the competition, I am looking for to see a new superstar that will win it next year and we are watching closely, to see if FIFA will bring sentiment into it again. Let them just allow things to flow naturally in football. Messi won it, but he doesn't deserve it.

Messi is a play maker and that is what Haaland is not. A playmaker doesn't wait for Midfielders and wingers to do all the job for him to get the ball and score, a playmaker does the job of midfielder, winger and a striker and Messi has thia combination and that's why the record showed that Messi had more assist than other contenders in the list of runners. Winning the world cup was a booster that increased Messi chance of winning Balon D'or than any other players because even if it was Mbape that won the World cup, they will picked him over Haaland that won the treble because World cup is a very heavy and most desire trophy that comes around ones in every four years.



What are you saying Mr. Man, Messi won the League 1 twice in a row, how are they even better than him because Haaland won the Champions League and Premier League. Messi single handedly led other players to the World cup, without him no way that world cup is coming back home. Even Haaland presence wasn't felt in the Champions League final, no goal from him and no single assist but Messi was everywhere in the World cup from the group stage until the final. If it were to be like that and a vote was supposed to pass around without Messi been a contender, they will favour Mbape over Haaland because having to World cup back to back will definitely be an advantage for him.

Hahaha, you just don’t understand: according to the logic of the fanboys, if a team wins, then it’s Messi’s merit, but if it loses, then it’s the team’s problem, Messi has nothing to do with it  ;D
Everything else works exactly the same - if Messi failed at the World Cup, then it is not important, if he failed everywhere except the World Cup, then the World Cup is important.

In general, it’s sad that Messi could have gone down in history as a great athlete even from “one team,” (far from the best, but at the level of Thomas Müller, Totti, etc.) but he went down as a great thief.

Ronaldo is far away from taking the Ballon d'Or for many reasons, Ronaldo didn't have any won trophies this season compared to Messi or even Haaland.
Beside that, we can't compare the level of Saudi Arabia League and Europ leagues. By the history of Ballon d'Or winners we can see that they always favorite players with more trophies and each one has a value. World cup is the most valuable trophy even compared to UCL trophy.

For me, Messi really deserve his eighth Ballon d'Or, as he is the favorite competitor to win. I believe also in the next versions we will see a competition between Halaand and Mbappé.

I think Haaland possibly should have been crowned but I understand why Messi was voted as the best player in the world. I mean domestically Messi wasn’t great but winning the World Cup was all he was missing from his trophy laden career.

I just feel like Haaland’s season was better than Messi’s. Possibly it was a sentimental reason Messi was crowned but I don’t think too many people will complain.

It’ll be interesting to see who wins it next year. It won’t be Messi or Ronaldo, their time is over due to age. It’s time for the new class to emerge.

This is quite the take on arguably one of the greatest players that football has ever witnessed. Putting Messi at the level of Totti and Muller clearly shows that you do not watch the sport at all or you support a rival club/player which makes you blind to what goes on in it.

I am not even a fanboy, I just watch football neutrally and call what I see. It is debatable whether Messi won this Balon D'or just as the one that Modric one and some Ronaldo won as well. That is football, fans have their opinions and can go extreme with it, but saying he "could" have gone does as a great athlete... is ridiculous.

- Jay -

The Ballon D'or certainly isn't fair given that people have to vote. Yes, I know Messi was great at the world cup and definitely did his best and won however, Haaland was also phenomenal last season. He was by far the best player but if the World Cup is the determining factor than I guess Messi deserved it otherwise it should have gone to Haaland given his man city performance last season.

I don't want to discuss Messi's now well-known qualities and career, ok he won the World Cup last year and he certainly had a big impact on the final verdict, but in my opinion this edition of the Ballon d'Or seemed like a farce, Haaland did it extraordinary things throughout the year! broke record after record, won the Premier League and the Champions League but it wasn't enough to receive the right recognition for what he did. My congratulations to Messi for having obtained his eighth Ballon d'Or, a record that is difficult to replicate

When asked of who should win the Ballon D'or this year, Pep Guardiola  said he had a great affection for the both players who cake first and second to win the award.  He went on to say  Messi had a fantastic world cup competition and should have it. Messi was also grateful he was crowned winner still he knew Haaland was better than him from his final speech given on stage.
Most people believe that Haaland should have gotten it and he should. He will do better this season having Pep Guardiola as his guide is a good opportunity he should be considered lucky to win it.

After all, this is the most prestigious award in the world of football and this award is highly coveted by world-class football players.
And here I also think the same as you, that Erling Halland is the one who deserves this award, because I see Halland performing so perfectly in almost every match. but here I also think. Maybe this is the last gift given by FIFA to Lionel Messi before Lionel Messi really retires from the world of football.

Not Messi and not Ronaldo because their time is over, but "no" with Kylian Mbappe because with his relatively young age and quite good playing performance, I am sure that he can still perform well in the next few years and remain a candidate who is strong in the race for the Ballon d'Or for the next few years.

Honestly, there have been confusion over the determining factor to win the Ballon D'or. We still don’t know what a player has to win to be able to win this award. Today, a player’s performance in the World Cup can get you this award. Tomorrow, you play well at club level and you get crowned the Ballon D' or. There are so many uncertainties around this award and with time, the award will become irrelevant if this continues. A lot of football fans believes Haaland should have won this award because he had a better season than everyone else. Talking about his achievements, he won the UCL, EPL, FA Cup and has broken goal scoring records in the process. It’s unfair that Messi wining the World Cup alone gave him this award.

I lost confidence in the voting pattern of the Ballon d'Or two years ago when it was won by Messi when it was clear that Robert Lewandowski deserved the award. Since then I have stopped watching the event and lowered my expectations on the awards. It seems the system is already skewed to favor Messi. His only achievement is just the World Cup while Erling Haaland achieved more than him. We will not be surprised that the Argentine skipper will be given another Ballon d'Or after his retirement for doing nothing ;D.

Messi might not deserve the last two Ballon d'Or he won but he is a great player. He is one of the greatest players in the world and I don't think he should be compared with players like Muller and Totti. Messi is far above their class and should be compared with players like Ronaldo, Maradona, and Platini. Some of the awards he has won is disputable but it doesn't erase the fact that he deserved most of them.

Winning the World Cup is not as easy as a team winning the Champions League. The World Cup is a big event that doesn't happen every year and not all super stars can win it with their country. Messi won it and I have to say that it has beaten the winner of the Champions League and the owner of other records such as top scorer, but Messi didn't just win it because of the World Cup.

There will always be those who hate him and there will always be those who love him, that is something that cannot be avoided because of disappointment and admiration. Messi has won 8 awards throughout his career, but I was impressed by his speech that basically Haaland could also win the award this season because of his performance and achievements last season.

I do understand people not being happy with Messi winning it, there are a lot of people who thought that he shouldn't have won, and to be fair it is not the first time, when you look back on the history of this award, we can say that almost each year there was at least one other player that was equally good to the winner, sometimes even better.

However, in this case, we could be quite sure that it is literally his very last one, there is no scenario that he will win another one, the fact that world cup happened when it did and not earlier, and Messi getting it gave him a big edge over Haaland. I think people do have the right to be upset over this, I think Messi deserved it, but I also understand whoever says he didn't, I wouldn't argue, Haaland definitely deserved it too. Although, I would say it was Messi or Haaland, I wouldn't give it to anyone else.

I see the award as an award given to the player who has the most influence for their team in very big and important games, players who can make a difference regardless of the team that their team is up against. Haaland may have scored a good number of goals last season, wo the treble with Manchester City, but he is not Balon d'Or material yet because in big games, he can be completely shadowed out.

See Jude Bellingham for instance, he is Balon d'Or material, seen how he carries his team, just like Mbappe who can also on singlehandedly make a huge impact in a game. See past winners like Ronaldo and even Benzema, they all had huge influence for their team in the season they won the award, scoring goals, and creating chances for others.

Haaland got the award he deserve for the now, he is a great goal scorer, nobody denies that, but there should still be a lot of improvement to his game to be considered the best player in the world.

All these are words, but in fact Messi without Barcelona is an ordinary average player. If you watch football, then you must have heard about Iniesta, Xavi and others who were consistently better than Messi (and achieved the greatest achievements without him, while he failed without them) but did not win a single Ballon d'Or.
And yes, one thing most bright is always memorable, Messi was good, but one of the brightest “threads” in his career was being a favorite of football officials (you understand what kind of scum these are, you follow football, hehe?) and a thief.

Very boring, almost every one talking about Messi
The Messi I know, just like what you said Messi don't deserve this award when talking about Messi and Cr7, Messi is no where compared to Ronaldo for real, never. When it comes to creativeness and football I will give the card to Ronaldo. Now I want to understand something, I think this Ballon d'Or award would have been given to mbappe if France  had won the world cup and that's just the truth. Honestly speaking Messi dont deserve  this award why? He lacks creative skill this time. Secondly why am I seeing people calling Haaland, same Haaland that has been quite for a while he only get a chance to score goal when their opponent are weak and can't play, just like what he did to Manchester united this Sunday. For me mbappe deserves this award

Well I think in a much as I don't like the fact that he's created a record that would be very difficult to be broken, he was very impressive in the world cup, and helped his country to secure the trophy, also performed well in the Ligue 1 while he was at PSG last season he scored about 19 goals in all competitions with 16 assists, he deserves the Trophy, some people should understand that FIFA has made their decision on who they feel merits the award and their is nothing anyone can do about it, they should just accept the fact that he's an 8th time Ballon D'or title winner.

 However Haaland had a very impressive season, he's a wonderful player and won a lot of trophies including scoring a very good number or goals and I think more than other striker in Europe last season if it were possible to give two Ballon D'or trophies then Haaland deserves one, but then it's not possible and he should keep working hard cause he could still win it in the near future.

What Messi got this, this year he is a World Cup champion? But for achievements at the club it was zero or even a failure. But why is the Ballon De'Or held every year? I think it's unfair that the world cup achievement is the best. I think Haaland will be better than Messi. Maybe there are many fans who have the same opinion as me. It should be calculated from one year and the average achievements at club and country. It would seem that it would be fairer than the current result.

Alot of peeps be saying that Messi wasn't supposed to be given the ballon d'Or.. wow, so who else was more close to having it this time around?? Bellingham that has barely no records yet?? Or Mbappe that's been struggling at 24 without major league trophies??... Who? Halland? That just begun his career and didn't win a single international trophy during the world cup?... I don't really understand how people make evaluations with someone that took his team to the finals and prevailed... Like, isn't he worth to have a either d'Or?

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

Messi without Barcelona did not exist so we cannot make any assumption on what he was or would have been. The closest we can use is his National team and Messi without Barcelona in this situation is a,
- World Cup winner,
- Copa America winner,
- Olympic gold medalist,
- 2× World cup Golden ball,
- Two times world cup finalist.

A very fine record if you ask me.

On what criteria are they better than Messi?
And what greatest achievement are you talking about, world cup? Yeah, he has achieved that.

- Jay -

I am still dilemma with Lionel Messi won Ballon D'Or with his achievement success won FIFA World Cup 2022 depend on several players have good performed and winning The World Cup trophy but failed to win Ballon D'or. Regarding last FIFA World Cup 2014 when Germany become the champion there are not any Germany player won Ballon D'Or and the same thing next four years later when France become the winner but the most impressive performance Hugo Lloris and Kylian Mbappé can't winning Ballon D'Or.

Lets talk about possibility with Lionel Messi achievement in this season and only won Ligue 1 but he not score many goals as Haaland with more competitive league but he loss compete from Lionel Messi to win Ballon D'Or.

"I am in position not Lionel Messi hatter and most talk about fact with controversial of Ballon D'Or winning only".

Only Erling Haaland comes close to Messi in terms of achievement, but Messi is FIFA's favorite man, as we can all see from the World Cup. Haaland did deserve it somehow, but he was just a striker that converted chances and did not create and score at the same time like Benzema and other strikers. Perhaps that's why Messi was considered with the fact that he led Argentina's team to win the World Cup for the first time and win League One, but his Champion's League performance is not enough to get him the Ballon d'Or, while Haaland won everything except the World Cup and Messi was given because of the World Cup.

Many people were disappointed with the decision to select the winner of the Ballon d'Or few days ago and from this it can be confirmed that more and more people will not trust FIFA, even worse for great players the Ballon d'Or title no valuable because there was lot of manipulation and unreasonable things.
I not saying FIFA is completely bad but in some ways FIFA makes lot of people disappointed and distrustful of some of their decisions.

Yes, I also believe that one day there will be a player who is born and can surpass Messi and we will even see that this player will really bring big changes to the sport of world football.
In the last few years there have been Messi and Ronaldo but in the next few years there will be new names that will take the world of football by storm.

If next year FIFA still does something like this, I sure there will be lot of debate and controversy between the public and football players towards FIFA.

The era where we always hear the names Messi and Ronaldo will soon end and in the next few years, we will see new names. Even fans also voiced Haaland's name, who achieved extraordinary achievements this season. his name may soon be at its peak in a few seasons. and we will start shifting the names of Messi and Ronaldo.
But whatever FIFA's decision, we also have to admit how Messi and Ronaldo make the football industry very interesting. they have their support base, wherever they play.

People who said Messi is deserving Ballon d'Or definitely Ronaldo's haters and this kind of people will not hear why Messi isn't deserve receive Ballon d'Or.

The debate and controversy of Ballon d'Or is already happen many times, since Messi earn 8 Ballon d'Ors it means at least there are 8 controversial decision made by FIFA. Why Messi is so popular, because Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, and Eto'o carried him when he was young.

I don't agree that the 8 Ballon d'Or that Messi has won were all controversial decisions, but some of them were controversial decisions, including this season.
I am not a Ronaldo supporter but I look at it realistically because I have been a football lover for a long time but what is happening now has made many parties no longer respect the decision to give the Ballon d'Or to Messi again, even though there are many other players who deserve it, Messi He's old and he doesn't play at his best level anymore, I'm really disappointed with this result.

Even though I like Messi a lot, at the very least I am glad that it is going to end with the whole reward discussions after this one. Even he realized that this is his last, he knows he is not going to get another one, so it is at least the very last one and we won't have to keep hearing about all these complaints.

Haaland and Mbappe are great players and from here on out we are going to just see them win, or maybe both of them won't and someone else would, Jude looks like he is playing good enough to maybe get one, I mean if he ends up getting the la liga, the cup and the ucl and does a treble with Madrid this year?

I wouldn't really assume anything else, and not like he is not the best player there. Vinicious was the best player before Jude came along and I assumed that's how it would stay, but looking at how he is playing right now I feel like Jude is playing well enough to be considered the best player on that team even right now and that's a big deal.

Friend, did you spend some time in prison without the Internet? What you wrote looks like a malicious mockery of Messi’s “achievements.” Here are some small facts (which I’m already tired of writing about): in the period 2008-2012, Xavi and Iniesta won at the club level everything that Messi won + the World Cup + 2 European Championships. At this time, Messi completely failed without them at the 2010 World Cup and was an ordinary player at the 2011 Copa America. But during this period, Messi received 4 Ballon d'Ors, and Xavi and Iniesta zero  ;D

Messi as a brand is a PR product, but as a person he is simply a thief, as an athlete he is good, but far from the top.

After the eighth time award given to Lionel Messi is is right to say that he is now the Greatest of all time?
Ronaldo fans still thinks the Greatest of all time discussions is not over, I don't  see it so. Messi has won it all and is the most decorated player that has ever placed on the field. The competition makes no meaning to Messi no longer.
He is the goat and Ronaldo remains the goat to his fans around the world.  Whoever  takes time to watch Messi will know football is a beautiful thing.  Ronaldo has worked hard for this level. Messi is gifted and he made good use of it.

Ballon D'or stopped making sense over a decade back, and it just started becoming more of a popularity vote battle between Messi Fans and Ronaldo Fans. That's why the likes of Wesley Sneijder (2010), Franck Ribery (2013), Virgil van Dijk (2019), Robert Lewandowski (2021) and now Haaland (2023) never stood a chance despite having very excellent seasons.

The voters started voting based on emotions rather than how well a player performed.

Leo Messi winning his 8th Ballon d'Or have ended the GOAT debate and Ronaldo fans are not satisfied, some consider it as rigged awards forward to the Argentina international. I've lost interest in Ballon d'Or award long time ago, since the very day, FIFA robbing Robert Lewandowski from winning the award. It makes no sense to me, watching Leo Messi winning Ballon d'Or 8 times, whereas there are other outstanding players that did exceptionally perform really brilliant in games, I just remain mute regarding concerns about the whole instance.

So did Sergio Busquets, so did Pedro, so did Pique, so did Puyol, so did David Villa (after he joined).
You are yet to explain how Xavi and Iniesta are personally better players than Messi. Football is not based on your perception, but on reality.

Messi has won 3 balon d'ors without Xavi and Iniesta and 2 without Barcelona.

- Jay -

The main reason Erling Haaland didn't win the Ballon d'Or is because he has not won any major team trophies yet. You know the Ballon d'Or takes into account individual performance but it also heavily considers team success. Yes, Haaland was a major part of Manchester City's success last year truly but the Ballon d'Or tends to value the Champions League and world cup more highly than other domestic trophies. And again, the voting for the award took place before the end of the season, and didn't consider the Premier League, FA Cup, or League Cup wins which are the Haaland major trophies won last season. It's obvious that the Ballon d'Or is given to the player who receives the most votes from a group of journalists, coaches, and captains from national teams. So, it's a subjective award and it doesn't necessarily go to the player with the best stats.

Actually, Messi has been such a dominant player in the sport for so long and it's amazing to see how he continues to evolve and improve his game but that doesn't dispute the fact that he's a FIFA boy. He's definitely FIFA's favorite.

You need to understand that this ballon D'Or is not determined by how many goals a player scores in all competition but it is determined by the overall performance of a player while on the pitch and his attitudes and behavior during his play. If you can assess all these criteria you will understand the reason why Leo Messi won the balloon D'Or as he is a player that comports himself whenever he is on the field of play and even off the pitch so this balloon D'Or decision wasn't based on Argentina winning the world cup but it was on his personal performance as a player.

Moreover, the balloon D'Or decision involves a voting process by which every football association across the world, national team coaches and captains, football specialist journalists from each countries, so the decision is unanimous.

I was actually no longer interested in this event when there was more than one robbery that occurred and at that time Lewandowski was the real winner. This event can be manipulated and for some reason there are still people who believe that it is an appropriate award when there are players who deserve it more. Journalists have full power in determining the winner of the Ballon d'Or each year, it's just that their choice is a bit strange.

I think journalists who vote on the Ballon d'Or results should have their credibility questioned in making their choice and they should be competent people in their field but they can't tell who is more deserving. Anyway, I love how Messi and Ronaldo compete every year but I think their era is over and it's time for another young player to take over this award.

So, this is what Messi fans logic, when people are criticized Messi, they automatically compare or discuss about "Messi and Ronaldo" which assuming people who don't like Messi are Ronaldo fans lol. :D :D :D

I check Inter Miami position in MLS, currently they're in 14th position from 15 teams! what is this guy contributing to Inter Miami? :P

Exactly! Plus Sneijder, Forlan and others who in different years were stronger than Messi, but they did not receive a prize, but he did. That's right - Messi is an ordinary player who was promoted by corrupt officials.
It’s good that you talked about reality, because it was in reality that Xavi and Iniesta won the World Cup and two European Championships in just 4 years (a legendary achievement) and Messi failed without them.


Yes, yes, you can repeat all this many times, but why can’t you explain what happened in the period 2008-2012? Xavi, Iniesta and Messi have the same achievements at the club level, and are absolutely cosmically different at the national team level. At the same time, Messi collected all the awards even though he was monstrously worse than Iniesta and Xavi.


Better yet, ask what his contribution to PSG is  ;D PSG before Messi: semi-finals and finals of the Champions League, and with Messi, elimination in the 1/8 two years in a row. But they will tell you how many assists he made in the game with Claremont  ;D

You are confusing the exact same year, 2010. Your entire focus seems to be on the world cup so I assume that is the year you are talking about.
Stop mixing reality up to suit your agenda.
Then explain what you mean by "stronger"? I have already mentioned that reality is not what you think but what it is. So you do not simply say team A is better than B and that becomes it.

Also, did those corrupt officials score the goals and create the assists he made?
Did they break the records he broke and create the magic he did on the ball?

Totally different National team sides. Your points are really showing you to have a poor perspective of football.
Spain had a complete team at the time and had a great manager. Argentina on the other hand simply had lots of good attackers but not a complete team.
Messi is not a national team, neither was Xavi or Iniesta, and as good as any player was they need a system to function.

You are the one repetitively comparing Xavi and Iniesta to Messi and linking the glory days of Spain. If I wanted to indulge your ridiculous argument, I will say Xavi and Iniesta failed at 2014 world cup, while Messi got to the final and won the golden ball. But it still balls down to the team, Spain at that time had reached an epoch and could not go beyond it till they had a change in system.

Monstrously is a heavy word, does not fit anywhere in this conversation really.

---

Answer one question honestly, Do you think personal achievements are determined more by "personal" performance or team performance?

- Jay -

Messi is an exceptional player and he was really instrumental to Argentina's success in the world cup but the truth be told he did not deserved the Ballon D'or. With or without this Ballon D'or, Messi would have still gone down in the history books as one of the best footballer of all time, FIFA didn't have to cook up stats to favour their golden boy. I could beat my chest and say that out of the 8 awards he won, he did not deserved 2 of them, the one that FIFA denied Wesley Sneijder and this one.

Stop lying, I’m not writing about one year (or tournament) when everything can be attributed to randomness. There is a whole period from 2008-2012 when Xavi and Iniesta achieved their greatest achievement - two European Champion titles in a row and a World Cup. Can you name teams that achieved the same? This is the real magic and legendary achievement and breaking of records.

At the same time, Messi failed at the World Cup and was an ordinary player at the America's Cup, you can come up with different excuses but these are simple facts.
Thus, during this period, both Xavi and Iniesta were 1000 times better than Messi, but they received zero Ballon d'Or, and he received 4  ;D


These stories have already been discussed here: when the team won, it was Messi’s merit, when it lost, it was not Messi’s fault  ;D Cool story.


You can write all the stories and absurdities you want, but you can’t escape the facts: Xavi and Iniesta did great without Messi and achieved a legendary achievement, but without them he first failed, and then could not be above average. I suppose now you will write anything about any other year but will you ignore 2008-2012?  ::)


In a team sport it is very difficult to separate the team from the individual, but here is a rare case when this is possible: everyone we are talking about played in the same club, but in different national teams. And the fact is that without Xavi and Iniesta, Messi was just a gray player, did not stand out at all, while Xavi and Iniesta achieved something legendary.

And that's not all: Messi had phenomenal goal statistics in those years while playing for Barcelona, he scored something like 80% of the club's goals +- and scored almost a goal per game. Seems incredible, right? (I'm speaking as a Messi fan haha). But the most incredible thing (for Messi fans) is that he was completely replaceable.

Villa scored 5 goals in 7 games at the 2010 World Cup (first place in the list of scorers). At the 2008 European Championship, Villa scored 4 goals in 6 games (sole first place in the list of scorers). If we take the qualifying rounds for the World Cup and the European Championship, Villa has stats of 18 goals in 21 games.

Does this statistic remind you of anything?  ::) Whose merit here do you think is greater: Xavi and Iniesta or Villa (who apparently should have received all the Ballon d'Ors in those years)?
Fanboys gives a paradoxical answer to this question: Messi  ;D
But the facts remain facts: Messi was the player that was replaceable by almost a random player.

I'm a Cristiano Ronaldo's fan but when it comes to football braggings about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel who to me are the best two players who's ever graced the beautiful round leather, I'm always not sentimental with my opinions.
Lionel Messi helped his country lift the FIFA World Cup last year December after the fifth time of trying. He wasn't just any random member of the Argentina squad that won the WC trophy but was the best player of the tournament and that's why I think he deserves the Balon D'or award he got on Monday. As far as football is concerned I can't say there's anyone among them who's better because they're have their different football records and moments.

You're correct but what happened to the name Angel Di Maria? He was also a vital player and of the FIFA World Cup Competition Win for Argentina. Against France, during the finals, he was the key to the first tow goal but his importance and contributions are not being talked about. I guess he was not even part of the list of players nominated for the Ballon d'or.

That said, Lionel Messi is an exceptional player, Dutch legend Hendrick Yohan Cruyff former player and manager made the prediction of how he will win the most Ballon d'ors and here he is doing as predicted even if this seems rigged or biased.
Congratulations to him once again. He deserves it!

Actually now we have to eliminate the classification of Messi or Ronaldo fans in this case because Ballon d'Or does not only refer to these two players even though they will always be associated but in this case you always think that those who do not recognize that Messi currently deserves Ballon d'Or are fans of Ronaldo. let's stop justifying it like that because in the end if it only focuses on what is always associated with these two players, then all comparisons are only to Messi and Ronaldo.

This season for the Ballon d'Or is not really liked and I am one of the people who do not like this because in my opinion the decision is not really worth it if it only makes the world cup the main benchmark. It's not that I don't like Messi and I'm a fan of Ronaldo because in the end the fact that Haaland is currently more deserving is indisputable and with Messi's re-election will obviously invite a lot of reactions for now.

I agree with you. Unfortunately, currently the people who criticize Messi the most and feel they don't deserve to win the Ballon D'Or are Ronaldo fans. For me, when Ronaldo fans express their disapproval, it's not because they want Ronaldo to get the Ballon D'Or. They only hate Messi because Messi is Ronaldo's rival. I don't like people like that. I would rather City fans or neutral people discuss this season's Ballon D'Or and not link it to Messi's previous few Ballon d'Ors.

Its not about Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi fans but depend on the winning Balon D'Or performance last season and all his contribution for his club and national teams. No doubt with Lionel Messi achievement winning FIFA World Cup 2022 but depend in year his performance not really fantastic such as Erling Haaland won treble winner with Manchester City. Comparison Messi's achievement is too far with Erling Haaland success become top scorer not only di Premier League as most compete league and Haaland become top score in Champion League. Did you think fair with one month performance in FIFA World Cup 2022 loss opportunity with Erling Haaland have consistent performance in one season?

I think Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will not stop debate if the winner of Ballon D'Or this year Erling Haaland

With all due respect for Messi , I think Haaland should have take this one because it's been almost a decade since young players no matter what they achieve and they do on the pitch , they cannot beat Messi at all and this year even if he won WC , he had no other achievements besides that as he had a poor season in Ligue 1 and then he made a very low transfer to Miami so I think it's fair to say Haaland was twice the man for Ballon D'or than Messi was this year.  8).

He should also slice that Ballon D'or in half and give the other half to Martinez because without his leg , Argentina would have clearly lost the final.

This is where you mixed it up;
You mentioned different years, but was talking about the exact same year.

The rest of your argument is just you sharing your personal opinion and trolling, so no need pursuing the argument with someone who is not objective.

- Jay -

Ronaldo itself wasn't include in Ballon d'Or nomination when he play very good in Manchester United and Al Nassr, but FIFA choose Messi over Haaland, so it's really clear FIFA like Messi and hate Ronaldo.

Well this is not really about if Haaland won it would end Messi and Ronaldo debate, Messi fans will keep saying Messi is better since he own 7 Ballon d'Or while Ronaldo only own 5 or Haaland is only own 1.

the guy played for a shitty team, he doesn't have superpowers to give skills to the other players on that team, so what he did was play well as he always did, but even so it would be impossible for him alone on the field to beat the other good ones teams in that league. If Messi continued playing in Europe and in a great team it would easily be visible how he is a great player and deserves this award. When people look at Messi winning this award, they often make comparisons with Ronaldo or Haaland, but I think they shouldn't be making those comparisons. because I believe that the juries took into account the past and current context in which all these players find themselves and how they are influencing where they play and what kind of results they have brought

Messi when he arrived at PSG he visibly contributed a lot to the team, the quality of his passes and how well he can move around the field was visible. He is the type of player who, when he gets the ball, can do wonders on the field, he is not just a player who scores goals like Ronaldo and Haaland, Messi's style of play is like Ronaldinho. Both players have enormous talent on the field and were able to make their teammates receive passes well and move well on the field when these two players picked up the ball. Haaland and Ronaldo have great talent when it comes to scoring goals and I am of the opinion that this year the Ballon d'Or should have gone to Haaland and not Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo for the very first time had a terrible season with his return to Manchester United ( Second Season ) He had a bad season and it didn't just end there, it extended to the FIFA World Cup Competition.
Some Portuguese players refused playing the ball to him and same as the coach, it not a one man game I know, but a player like Cristiano Ronaldo shouldn't have been treated that way.

Ballon d'or or whoever is in control did the right thing. Ronaldo never came close to even being nominated. He won five times and that's enough for him.
Shout out to Lionel Messi for he really merits that Ballon d'or.

You are pretending to be blind (after all, you cannot dispute the facts) but it is not difficult for me to repeat:


You can ignore the facts for as long as you like, but they won't go away.


You have nothing to object to since I provided specific figures and facts, so you simply ignore them and try to declare trolling. But this is even good - it means that if we talk about facts, then you agree with me, but no one cares about your emotions (incredible love for Messi).


Great joke. Playing in the Farm League in a dominant club, Messi failed the first season, was at an average level in the second season and completely failed in the Champions League (two eliminations at the 1/8 stage with 0+0). Hmm... this is not the kind of “help” the sheikhs were expecting when they invited “the best player in the world who makes a difference.” Although, on the other hand, the difference is obvious: without Messi, PSG has the semi-finals and final of the Champions League, and with Messi another shameful defeat from Bayern (Messi brought this from Barcelona) and two years in a row relegation in the 1/8.

I wouldn't say he had a poor season at ligue 1? I mean he was the assist leader of the league, that is saying something and he had 16 goals as well, he had as much contribution to the team that won Ligue 1 as Mbappe, AND he won the world cup on top of that.

I understand Haaland, there is nothing wrong with saying Haaland deserved it, but while Messi was out there getting the world cup and leading the assists and winning ligue 1, Haaland was not scoring a single goal on 7 finals/semi-finals games where his team scored 12 goals. On all those games, his team had to score without him, and Messi was the one that brought his team the league title and world cup title when he played and scored in all those games as well. That is much better.

They are both difficult choices. I think Haaland deserves the Ballon D'Or. But I also think that Messi with all his achievements in that season could indeed be said to be one of Messi's best seasons as a football player. He got the world cup and won the league. Even though he doesn't have the goal productivity of Haaland, I think this year could be Messi's last Ballon D'Or before retiring, and we will be prepared to look forward to a new face at the Ballon D'Or next year.

The whole problem is that most people think in retrospect, looking at Messi’s past achievements (given the level of PR, naturally he is stronger here than Haaland) instead of simply looking at what the prize is given for - for the season. If we put aside PR and corruption, then Messi probably wouldn’t even be in the top 5, and Haaland would have won the Ballon d'Or without any problems, maybe there would only be a Haaland vs. Mbappe debate.

Let's see when the next world cup is and whose Balon D'or will be awarded. At the moment it may indeed be Messi winning the World Cup but not with club achievements. Messi is bad at the club. He didn't have any great achievements at the club. There should be a lot of consideration, not just the World Cup.

We'll see, if a decision changes then I don't think it's necessary to give the title of best player. This means that FIFA has a double standard in the selection of the best players. In the end, this will be a fan debate that has no end.

Therefore I think that if next year Messi should no longer be included in the nominations, or at least be in the top 10 then that won't be a problem. I'm excited to see young players get the Ballon D'Or. I think it's time for Messi and Ronaldo to enjoy the end of their careers. It would be funny if Messi, who plays in MLS, is in the top 3 of the Ballon D'Or next season.

I'm 100% sure he will be included in the next nominations, the only way to see Messi not include into nomination is he reject it or he officially retire from football.

Regarding if he win or not, that's a different discussions since it will depend on how much he can bribe FIFA.

I guess if Inter Miami become a champion in the next season, he will win Ballon d'Or. :P

It's funny how yesterday Messi grabbed his opponent by the throat in the Argentina - Uruguay game, but didn't even get a yellow card  ;D
And I was also surprised by his hypocrisy when, after a lost game, he said that the Uruguay national team player should respect elders and learn good manners. Lord, this is coming from the one who attacked Louis Van Gaal and the one who “didn’t notice” how Martinez behaved towards his opponents?
It seems that at the end of his career he really went crazy and believed that he deserved his Ballon d'Ors and was not just a product of PR.

I look forward to your predictions, LOL. But it's interesting. There is a possibility that Messi will still be nominated next season. I don't know if he really bribed FIFA or because Messi has good connections, but I hope that Messi also has a good end to his career. It's very unpleasant when a Legend player who once created the world's best rivalry has to end badly just because of the Ballon D'Or.

The clownery continues!  ;D

Winners from Best FIFA Football Awards 2023
The Best FIFA Men's Player - Lionel Messi
https://www.90min.com/posts/the-best-fifa-football-awards-2023-full-winners-list

Seriously? It seems that when he retires, they will create a new nomination “the best among pensioners” and will award it to him every year. What makes what happened especially poignant is the fact that, according to leaks, Haaland was supposed to win, so Messi didn’t even come to the ceremony, and when the winner was announced it was very awkward.
What a shameful, pathetic circus. There is a feeling that this clownery will continue until 2027 (in 2026 they will hold the World Cup and finally bury this PR story that everyone is already tired of).

It’s laughable. I don’t see how Messi who is playing in Inter Miami could win the award. Lionel Messi did not merit the award and was given based on sentiment.  I don’t want to shout robbery but what did Messi achieve within the timeline (19th Dec 2022 - 20th August 2023) under review that makes him merit the award ahead of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe? FIFA should rename the awards to football popularity contest because that is what it is.

The award is given for a year (as the name suggests) and here even more questions arise - a significant part of the time, while Mbappe, Haaland, Bellingham, etc. showed themselves in the game Messi was lying on the beach as Inter Miami flew past the playoffs.
I see from social networks and forums that everyone took this indifferently (ignored) or with irritation. It seems everyone is just used to it and doesn’t really want to discuss these PR perversions.

Dsports reports that Messi and Di Maria will take part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris
https://www.directvsports.com/futbol/Exclusivo-Messi-y-Di-Maria-quieren-jugar-los-Juegos-Olimpicos-y-AFA-afina-el-plan-para-que-que-esten-en-Paris-20240119-0020.html

Looks like I know who will win the Ballon d'Or next year  ::)
I wonder if almost 40-year-old men are not ashamed to go to a youth team competition? I know that there is an age limit but several players above this limit can be of any age, but what a shame it is. If Messi wants to prove something, maybe it would be easier to return to Europe and play? But no, he chooses some shameful ways to support the PR of his brand.

Hahaha everything will feel very easy for Messi because he is like golden boy by FIFA and Messi will be able to achieve what he wants even though that may be topic of conversation for many football fans.
But this will be different for Messi fans and they will still consider Messi as the best and Messi as the greatest star of all the existing players.
If he really takes part in the competition then it can be confirmed that there is another goal and of course this is about his name and career as football player, for some reason there are players who are full of protection from the top football federation officials.

It just that I not really sure whether he can get the Ballon d'Or in the future because the last award yesterday has caused negative sentiment and if that happens again then we will know what football fans are talking about and thinking about.

It looks like the PR people will be riding this dead horse for a long time - the America's Cup is ahead, plus, as we now know, the Olympics, so next year we can again give all the awards to Messi (if Argentina's performance is at least not terrible). Then in the USA they will invent, in addition to the League Cup, some other fucking tournament of third-rate teams and it will be possible to hold out until 2026 and the World Cup in America. Probably the medium-term goal is exactly this - for the largest competition you need great PR, and Messi, in whose PR FIFA has invested for decades, is ideal for this.

Recently Goal.com released news regarding the rankings of potential players who might be selected for the upcoming Ballon d'Or 2024 and ranked 20 players, reminder as this event will take appart in October 28th, 2024. Here's the list of the top 10 players:

1. Bellingham
2. Foden
3. Mbappé
4. Haaland
5. Rodri
6. Kane
7. Vinicius Jr
8. Griezmann
9. Wirtz
10. Saka

In my opinion, there is still time to determine this season's winner of the trophy. However, with Foden and Haaland already out of the Champions League getting disqualified by Bellingham's teammates, and Mbappé who sits at third place in the list, also passing to the semi-finals and scoring two goals against Barcelona, it's more likely that Bellingham and Mbappé have better chances for the trophy this year.
Although upcoming events may influence these players performances either positively or negatively, it’s likely that the winner of Champions League may have more chances for it.

News link: goal.com (https://www.goal.com/en/lists/ballon-dor-2024-power-rankings/blt64e16da6b8170bb7)

It seems to me that Mbappe will receive the award, but not because he deserves it, but because in a pair of Haaland and Foden/Rodri + Vinny and Bellingham, the players will take points from each other.
The only thing that can change this situation is if Bellingham or Vinny show something outstanding at the end of the season.
However, there is also Euro 2024, there are also chances to show off there.

We have outstanding young players that's playing their best to ensure they grabbing good stats in major tournaments but unluckily for them, some favorable elite teams have been eliminated and most of the leading players on the lists are playing for this clubs. With the absence of Manchester City from the UEFA Champions League, that officially means Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rodri are out, we only have Harry Kane, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe that will become rivals for the title run. I'm hoping to see Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain in the UCL final this season. Ballon d'Or is an important award and entitlement for brilliant players.

With Inter Miami Messi has performed quite well this season and the team has also managed to temporarily top the standings even though last season they performed poorly in the MLS competition, but their performance in the League Cup was quite good.
This season, we don't know whether he will be the star who succeeds in bringing Inter Miami to the title race in several competitions or not, but what is clear is that Messi is not great player with Argentina.
He has now been left behind by several other much younger players and Messi just seems like player to complement Argentina alone.
Copa America has yet to start and the World Cup Qualifiers while they are top of the standings and Messi doesn't look like player who will really be at the heart of those achievements.
Maybe many people still consider him to be the best player with the most Ballon d'Or wins and who has succeeded in bringing Argentina to become World Cup champions, but I myself don't think he is as good as what he has achieved from these various titles.
I don't know whether it will remain the same or not, but if Messi gets it again, it will be clear that FIFA is not evaluating it fairly.

In my opinion, Bellingha has stronger chances of winning the Ballon d’Or trophy this season, especially after he eliminated Haaland and Foden from the UCL competition in the quarterfinals. His performance in last night's El Clasico was also impressive as he scored the winning goal against Barcelona, increasing his team's chances for the LaLiga trophy.

While Mbappe's performance wasn't as good against PSG, especially in the first leg match were he failed to help his team or create any chances against Barcelona, However, I think there's still time to determine who will perform well in Euro 2024 alongside the UCL trophy winner. These factors contribute to boosting the player chances, just like the last season when Messi won the Ballon d'Or because Argentina won the World Cup.