You have probably the most dumb kind of criteria i've seen on this forum when it comes to judging players/careers, and that is saying something.
All sulking Messi fanboys say that.
Sneijder wasnt even #2 or #3. Thats a ridiculous argument. He also simply wasnt the best player in the world that year, not even close.
Sneijder clearly deserved it that year, and by a big margin. Won the Champions League, Serie A and Italian Cup, while playing great in all 3 competitions. Reached the final of the World Cup, while playing great and scoring 5 goals along the way, clearly out-performing Messi at that tournament.
It ain't even close.
You people need to understand what the Ballon D'Or is awarded for/what it means, or at least what it meant when it was invented.
The Ballon D'Or was meant to honour the male player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year. From 1956 up until 2006, it was awarded based on voting by football journalists. After that, it became a joke of an award, since coaches and captains of national teams were also given the right to vote, and those dum dums didn't understand what the award was about.
It was never about who is the best player in the world, it was about who had the best season.
It is quite obvious for anyone with a brain that Cannavaro was not the best player in the world when he won it in 2006, Ronaldinho was. But Cannavaro had a great season and especially a great World Cup, that's why he won it.
Similarly, it is quite obvious that R9 was better than Sammer in 96, yet Sammer won it.
If the award was just meant for who is the best in the world, then:
- Baggio should have won it for 3-4 consecutive seasons in the early 90s;
- R9 should have won it 3 consecutive times, from 96 to 99, and again, 2 consecutive times, from 02 to 04;
- R10 from around 04 to around 06.
etc
But it's not, it's about who had the best season, and in 2010, that was Sneijder by far.
I rate Messi higher than CR7 and am not a Ronaldo fan boy so yeah try again. Sneijder deserved the Balon D'or - he was the clearest winner that year - even bigger Messi fanboys than you admit that.
Well said.