The French and German leagues haven't provided a Ballon D'Or winner since 1991 and 1996 respectively.
How many Potential ballon d’or winners are there in the PL?
- Thread starter Fortitude
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Haaland, Salah and KdB.
France provided it last year...
Mbappe will be winning the next few. Spain was the previous stat padders dream league and just happened to have two brilliant players in it at the same time.
England is not a high scoring league and hasnt been for decades. Ballon D'or favours a big goal tally and usually an international trophy.
The Ballon D'oR winner is almost out of Barcelona or Real Madrid or they will have to have an outstanding World Cup Tournament or Champions League performance. The Ballon DOr has been a Real Madrid or Barcelona player since 2009. Generally, domestic performances outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona have almost no bearings on the voters.
Messi won Balloon D'Or because of Copa America.
Spain was the best league when Ronaldo and Messi were there, better than Premier League for sure.
And Balloon was not always focused on goalscorers, otherwise Zidane,Nedved,Figo,Matthaus,Beckenbauer,etc would have never won it... it's a modern thing, since Messi and Cristiano appeared in the scene.
I think Messi won it entirely on the basis of his Barcelona showings and despite moving to PSG where he had a sluggish start (first league goal in November).
For any non-big-3 league, the common thread is success outside the domestic league. That'll be more pivotal than Mbappe or Neymar scoring 30 or 50 goals in Ligue Un.
But still so many more better players than them. They have no chance
Messi won his Ballon D'or last year for what he did at Barcelona and with Argentina.
Winning it this year, or in general?
This year is wrapped up by Benzema, surely.
Outside of that:
- De Bruyne
- Salah
- Haaland
- Van Dijk
- Son
- Ronaldo (would need to move to an easier league/have Portugal win the world cup)
This year is wrapped up by Benzema, surely.
Outside of that:
- De Bruyne
- Salah
- Haaland
- Van Dijk
- Son
- Ronaldo (would need to move to an easier league/have Portugal win the world cup)
It's a combination of goalscoring, international competition success, and profile. As @FrankFoot says the goalscoring focus is a more recent thing, but its become the biggest thing and anybody in the PL is going to have a harder time with that.
I think Salah and KDB are bit old for Ballon d'Or. Kane and Son can't win it while playing for Spurs. So:
1) Haaland
2) Odegaard
3) Havertz
4) Gabi Jesus
5) Mount
6) Nunez
7) Alvarez
8) Gimaraes
1) Haaland
2) Odegaard
3) Havertz
4) Gabi Jesus
5) Mount
6) Nunez
7) Alvarez
8) Gimaraes
Yeah fair enough I respect your opinion. Agree to disagree.
As long as City or Pool don’t consistently win CL’s, players in the EPL will never win the ballon d’or.
So I’d say it is very unlikely anyone in England will win one
So I’d say it is very unlikely anyone in England will win one
Since it's a narrative driven award, I'd go with:
1. Haaland
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2. Salah
1. Haaland
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2. Salah
No problem. I just felt that there are other players in the PL with better profile for this award.
KDB and Haaland
KdB or Haaland imo. They have the clout and the stats
Hard to call, dont think theres any standout candidates. Think Mbappe is the most talented player around at the moment but no one will care unless he wins a CL or WC and dont think either are particularly likely. It'll probably be a player for the World Cup winner unless the competition is a total shit show. A defender having a particulaly good tournament could easily win like Cannavaro did.
Mbappe isnt more talented than Neymar. All you need to do is watch one PSG game and Neymar is simply the superior footballer. If Neymar stays fit, he is PSG's best attacker.
Yeah probably true. Dont think he has the vibes to win it though. I cant see PSG winning the CL so not sure it matters. One of them winning the world cup sounds a lot more plausible and they wouldn't be competing directly in that situation. A brazil WC win would probably make Neymar a shoe in even without the vibes i guess.
That's about it.
Last player from pl came to top 3 was jorginho. 
. So jorginho for me.
. So jorginho for me.The PL is just as meaningless as every other domestic league. The only competitions that matter are the international tournaments and the CL
Nobody's going to win the ballon d'or off the back of their league season unless they reach Messi/Cristiano status, and even then, they'd need no standout player winning one of those competitions
At first I thought that the replies in this thread looked overly strict, but then I realized that in the last 54 years only 2 players have won the Ballon d'Or while playing for an English team: Owen(2001) and Ronaldo(2008).
In the first 12 years(1956 to 1968) it happened 4 times: Matthews, Law, Charlton, Best.
It's pretty cool that 4 out of the 6 English team Ballon d'Or winners are United players. It further adds some magic to our club.
In the first 12 years(1956 to 1968) it happened 4 times: Matthews, Law, Charlton, Best.
It's pretty cool that 4 out of the 6 English team Ballon d'Or winners are United players. It further adds some magic to our club.
I don't get the feeling people treat the high number of goals scored in France and Germany as equal. If anything I think people somewhat exaggerate the extent of the discrepancy or ease of scoring in other leagues. No doubt, German teams score more goals on average, and in France PSG at least have had a few very high scoring seasons, but (perhaps surprisingly) PSG scored fewer league goals than City over the last 5 seasons on average.
Bayern on the other hand does score more goals than City on average, but even that isn't as extreme as you might think and doesn't apply every season either. But then again if you look at their Champions League record over the last 10 seasons, Bayern scored the most goals of any team in 6 of those seasons, so it's not just a matter of weak league opposition. Even adjusted for per 90 they hold the top spot in 4 of those 10 seasons, and coincidentally then two other German teams hold the top spot in another season each.
This isn't supposed to be a rant defending League 1 or the Bundesliga, but was just surprised to see someone say the numbers there are seen as equal when I get the feeling a lot of people dismiss those numbers rather too easily.
Messi too. At PSG this season so far he’s their best player as you would expect tbh.
He was bedding in last season but took a while. Now he’s settled he looks absolutely ridiculous as usual. Never write Messi off even in his mid 30’s. His bar is still higher than any player on his day.
Not that Messi isn't playing at a dramatically higher level than last year, but Neymar has been better in those first few games.
Willing to bet any amount of money that Foden will never win the Ballon D’Or
Maybe so. I cannot imagine he wins it deservedly again. He didn't deserve it the last time he won it. Benzema right now is the obvious choice. Next season I could see him and Lewa being the main contenders again, maybe De Bruyne if City get the CL over the line.
Salah and KDB have probably already had their best shots at the award.Haaland and Foden have all the time in the world to win it in the future. Haaland is the obvious choice for the future. But as this is the year of the World Cup, I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Kante or KDB wins it next year by winning the WC.
It’s really crazy when you see it like that. Also wasn’t aware of the specifics of the history of winners from England, so thanks for that. Not something I’d ever bothered researching, but a really interesting fact. Something to be proud of.
No one has said Reece James yet. Fraudulent thread.
It really is. In terms of individual honors no one can claim that the football community has an English league bias at least. Only 2 Ballon d'Ors in the last 54 years is pretty bonkers when you remember the Liverpool and Nottingham Forest teams of the 70's and 80's plus Fergie's dynasty(although Ronaldo won it once while playing for us at least) plus the disgusting amount of money spent in the PL era.
Especially when you consider we won a treble in that era, first team to do so, with the likes of Giggs, Keane, Scholes, Beckham, Stam, Schmeichel.
Based on current ability
De Bruyne, Haaland, Salah, van Dijk, Son, Kane
Son & Kane would obviously need a much better team than Spurs
De Bruyne, Haaland, Salah, van Dijk, Son, Kane
Son & Kane would obviously need a much better team than Spurs
Haaland is the number one candidate.
He is capable of scoring a goal pretty much every single game over a long season where his team is inevitably at the business end of competitions. Probably a matter of time.
He is capable of scoring a goal pretty much every single game over a long season where his team is inevitably at the business end of competitions. Probably a matter of time.
Salah still has an off chance.
De Bruyne is a good bet.
Haaland is the most probable though — he has so many years ahead of him and he has a proper media profile (unlike De Bruyne & Salah).
As an off chance — Foden? I don’t think that he will but in a freak season.
Son & Kane won’t do it unless they do a Maradona-86 at the upcoming World Cup (which is extremely unlikely).
De Bruyne is a good bet.
Haaland is the most probable though — he has so many years ahead of him and he has a proper media profile (unlike De Bruyne & Salah).
As an off chance — Foden? I don’t think that he will but in a freak season.
Son & Kane won’t do it unless they do a Maradona-86 at the upcoming World Cup (which is extremely unlikely).
Foden, KDB, Salah, and Haaland
1999: Rivaldo, 2000: Figo 2001: Owen.
Roy Keane was better than all those players around that time. He was certainly a tonne more important to his sides and won more big trophies. (Apart from the WC)
Wasn’t even close to winning the Ballon D Or but he 110% would have merited the award if he ever won it around the year 2000.
He placed 6th in 1999 which is ludicrous. Had Roy Keane played for Brazil he would have made them better as a team than Rivaldo ever could have.
Figo as silky on the ball as he was, would anyone swap him for Keane over a full season or even a big game? I wouldn’t personally.
Plus comparing Owen to peak Keane isn’t really a comparison. The gulf in class is huge on the biggest stage.
Not a single mention for Sancho, but quite a few for Foden…
That’s surprising.
That’s surprising.