Ballon d'Or 2021: more interesting than usual?

OleBoiii

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Has predicting the Ballon d'Or winner ever been harder?

There are generally 4 names coming up in these "who's the best player in the world" discussions: Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski and Mbappe. However, none of them will win the CL this year. And winning the CL and being the best player on said team is typically a guarantee of winning the Ballon d'Or. There is of course an alternative route by winning the Euros, which technically gives 3 of the 4 players above a second chance.

But what happens if neither Ronaldo, Mbappe or Lewandowski win the Euros? Will the voters focus on "FIFA rating", i.e. how good a player is on paper? Or will they simply pick the best player from the team that wins the CL? In either case, I think the winner will be quite underwhelming. If City wins the CL, does that mean that Dias wins the Ballon d'Or? He's probably been City's best player after all. If Chelsea wins the CL then the Ballon d'Or winner becomes even more underwhelming.

Looking at the list of favorites to win the Euros, a couple of new interesting potential winners appear. If England wins, then Kane might actually have a good shot at winning the Ballon d'Or. If Portugal wins and Bruno is their talisman, then I think he has a fair shot as well. Kante might also have a shot, should France win the Euros and Chelsea the CL.

At the moment I find it impossible to predict the Ballon d'Or 2021 winner. I think the Euros can be the deciding factor if France, England, Portugal or Poland wins it.
 

RedRonaldo

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I think this year performance in Euro and perhaps Copa will be most decisive as ever.

Messi - great individual season, won domestic cup, but fail in CL, look likely will loss the league
Ronaldo - great individual season, may win domestic cup, but fail in CL and league
Lewandoski - great individual season, won the league, but fail in CL
Mbappe - great individual season, but fail in CL, may even loss the league, still in semi of domestic cup
Haaland - great individual season, but fail to win any trophies
Kane - great individual season, but fail to win any trophies
De Bruyne - good individual season but not good enough to win Ballon D’or, may win treble

On current standings:

Individual:
Messi> Lewandoski> Mbappe> Ronaldo= Haaland= Kane>>>De Bruyne

Trophy/success:
De Bruyne>>>Lewandoski> Messi>= Mbappe= Ronaldo> Kane= Haaland?

None of players above has higher chance to win it, base on current standings.
 
Last edited:

OleBoiii

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RedRonaldo said:
I think this year performance in Euro and perhaps Copa will be most decisive as ever.
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Imagine if Atletico win La Liga, Lille win Ligue 1, Chelsea win the CL, Germany win the Euros and Brazil win the Copa. It's gonna be impossible to declare a definite Ballon d'Or winner :p
 

DM07

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It's going to be Bruno after he leads Portugal to European Glory while winning player of the tournament. :devil:
 

villain

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Bruno should make the top 10, that's all I care about really.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Ballon Dor - as uninteresting as ever. They'll just give to the fancied name of the success story team of the year. Narrative.
 

giorno

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If they do the right thing they give it to Lewandowski

Unless somebody has an amazing Euro...
 

Sarni

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Lewandowski should have won it last year if they hadn't cancelled it, and Bayern would have likely made it past PSG with him so it wasn't him underperforming that caused them to miss out on that trophy. Individually he's had the best season in Europe by a margin too but Poland will likely not go far in Euro so I think he's got no shot, especially as he's far less marketable than other top candidates. I think it will go to Messi by default.
 

OleBoiii

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Haaland is not gonna win the Ballon d'Or. At most he'll get a domestic cup. This is never gonna be enough, regardless of how skilled he is.
 

Dan_F

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Shaw Mee Tah Mané said:
If City win CL and Belgium win Euros I guess it will be easy to look at De Bruyne.
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I don’t think they would even have to win it. If he gets a couple of goals it’s almost guaranteed. How many times has a team won their league and the UCL, and one of their players hasn’t won the Ballon D’or?
 

TheLord

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It will probably go to the winner of the Euros, especially if the player has also won the Champions League.

Unfortunately, Robert Lewandowski won’t win it despite winning the European Golden Shoe for two consecutive years (quite frankly he’s the best striker around).
De Bruyne is the safest bet at the moment.
 

OleBoiii

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Sarni said:
Lewandowski should have won it last year if they hadn't cancelled it
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Definitely. He might win the vote as a nice gesture? He's definitely one of the best players in the world, he's had a great season and he'll win a major trophy, so it's not preposterous if he wins the vote. Based on current standings, he's probably the most deserving candidate overall.
 

Champ

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Are these irrelevant awards ever interesting?
 

Morty_

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TheLord said:
It will probably go to the winner of the Euros, especially if the player has also won the Champions League.

Unfortunately, Robert Lewandowski won’t win it despite winning the European Golden Shoe for two consecutive years (quite frankly he’s the best striker around).
De Bruyne is the safest bet at the moment.
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Actually no, Immobile won it last year.
 

RedRonaldo

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Dan_F said:
I don’t think they would even have to win it. If he gets a couple of goals it’s almost guaranteed. How many times has a team won their league and the UCL, and one of their players hasn’t won the Ballon D’or?
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I am sure none of our players win Ballon D’or back in 99 when we won the treble. Ribery also failed to win Ballin D’or when Bayern won the treble some years ago.
 

AjaxCunian

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I hope Messi. Though be doesnt lead his team to trophy succes like he used to, he is still clearly better than de Bruyne. Lewandowski/Mbappe make a decent case based on their Euro's.
 

RedRonaldo

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My guess:

If Argentina win Copa, maybe Messi will win it

If Portugal win Euro, maybe Ronaldo will win it

If France win Euro, maybe Mbappe will win it

If England win Euro, maybe Kane will win it

If Belgium win Euro, maybe De Bruyne will win it

If none of big boys win Euro or Copa, maybe Lewandoski or Messi will win it
 

Dan_F

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RedRonaldo said:
I am sure none of our players win Ballon D’or back in 99 when we won the treble. Ribery also failed to win Ballin D’or when Bayern won the treble some years ago.
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Not massively often then. The champions league win seems to hold more and more importance to it over the last decade.
 

Red Star One

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Lewandowski deserves whatever happens at Euros, but I don't think he'll win it. Messi was great but Barca abysmal as a whole.
 

gibers

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Will depend on the EUROs tbh. Could be Kante, Mbappe, Dias or even KdB depending on the media narrative when the time comes.
 

Iker Quesadillas

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They'll give it to Lewandowski to make up for last year and because there isn't an obviously better candidate.
 

Bearded One

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I’ll give you a tip:

The team that wins the champions league will have one of their players in a prime position to clamming it. Mbappe, Lewandowski and De Bruyne will finish in top 3 and Lewa will win it.
 

Lee565

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Dias has to be a really strong contender.

Ronaldo or messi shouldn't be in the top 3 this year, saying that it wouldn't surprise me if Portugal won the euros they would give ronaldo player of the year.
 

Daysleeper

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giorno said:
If they do the right thing they give it to Lewandowski

Unless somebody has an amazing Euro...
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but ballon d’or is calendar year though, no? Looking at just 2021 alone would lewa be the front runner?
 

Daysleeper

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Bearded One said:
I’ll give you a tip:

The team that wins the champions league will have one of their players in a prime position to clamming it. Mbappe, Lewandowski and De Bruyne will finish in top 3 and Lewa will win it.
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psg and Bayern are knocked out of CL though
 

MU655

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If City win the CL, I would actually lean towards Gundogan (if I made the choice). He is has been ridiculously good this year.
 

Boavista

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If no clear favourite emerges from the Euros I could see them give it to Lewandowski. Partially to make up for not awarding him last year, but also his season individually has been excellent. Can't blame him for their CL exit given he was out injured.

Unless De Bruyne wins the Euros with Belgium I don't see why he should receive it when Gundogan has had the better season for City out of the two. Although I can't see him win it either unless Germany wins the Euros and he shines for them. But even then it seems unlikely.
 

sun_tzu

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RedRonaldo said:
I think this year performance in Euro and perhaps Copa will be most decisive as ever.

Messi - great individual season, won domestic cup, but fail in CL, look likely will loss the league
Ronaldo - great individual season, may win domestic cup, but fail in CL and league
Lewandoski - great individual season, won the league, but fail in CL
Mbappe - great individual season, but fail in CL, may even loss the league, still in semi of domestic cup
Haaland - great individual season, but fail to win any trophies
Kane - great individual season, but fail to win any trophies
De Bruyne - good individual season but not good enough to win Ballon D’or, may win treble

On current standings:

Individual:
Messi> Lewandoski> Mbappe> Ronaldo= Haaland= Kane>>>De Bruyne

Trophy/success:
De Bruyne>>>Lewandoski> Messi>= Mbappe= Ronaldo> Kane= Haaland?

None of players above has higher chance to win it, base on current standings.
Click to expand...
when do people vote?
I think its late November isnt it?
So yes a good euros could make a huge difference... but so could say Haaland or Mbappe banging in 20 goals before December for a new club
 

giorno

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Daysleeper said:
but ballon d’or is calendar year though, no? Looking at just 2021 alone would lewa be the front runner?
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He's been the best in the world by far in 2021 so far, too, none of the city/chelsea players have q case over him, even with the CL, imo
 

tomaldinho1

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RedRonaldo said:
I think this year performance in Euro and perhaps Copa will be most decisive as ever.

Messi - great individual season, won domestic cup, but fail in CL, look likely will loss the league
Ronaldo - great individual season, may win domestic cup, but fail in CL and league
Lewandoski - great individual season, won the league, but fail in CL
Mbappe - great individual season, but fail in CL, may even loss the league, still in semi of domestic cup
Haaland - great individual season, but fail to win any trophies
Kane - great individual season, but fail to win any trophies
De Bruyne - good individual season but not good enough to win Ballon D’or, may win treble

On current standings:

Individual:
Messi> Lewandoski> Mbappe> Ronaldo= Haaland= Kane>>>De Bruyne

Trophy/success:
De Bruyne>>>Lewandoski> Messi>= Mbappe= Ronaldo> Kane= Haaland?

None of players above has higher chance to win it, base on current standings.
Click to expand...
I'd genuinely say Kane has actually had the most impressive individual season - played in a defensive team that is not even top four quality in their league and has 21 goals and 13 assists in the PL.

Kante, Dias or Gundogan would be my shouts though - I feel like the winner usually has to win/come very close to winning the CL.
 

Bearded One

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Daysleeper said:
psg and Bayern are knocked out of CL though
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Ok I forgot to add “though” to my last sentence. I was trying to say that even though winning the champions league seems to carry the biggest weight compared other factors in consideration, this year will be an exception. Lewa will win it this year.
 

DWelbz19

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I don’t think it’s going to be anymore ‘interesting’ from now on. At least with Messi/Ronaldo both were unanimously the best two in the world each season they won it (save for a year here or there).

Now it’s going to be the most divisive it has been in years, with players of similar sorts of stats and influence on their sides being separated solely by one of those winning a CL or national trophy.
 
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