But that's not the points of ballon do'r , we've got the golden boy for that. He definitely didn't deserve that award even though it was all around a mediocre year with no particular player clearly standing out , i still preferred the likes of khan, raul, toti and even our very own David to have won it instead.
Worst drop off performance wise after a ballon d'or win
- Thread starter Red the Bear
- Start date
I was just disputing your assertion that Owen was "nothing to write home about in the first place". When he clearly was an exceptional young talent by any standard.
Modric wasn't very good after the World Cup and a big chunk of 2019. He recovered though.
True, But then he had a strong finish to the season.
Modric is another one. Had a great WC and won Ballon D'or 2018, the following year is very average, and wasn't even among top 30 in 2019 Ballon D'or.
I'm not old enough to remember the way older wins. If it's the immediate season after the win then Messi is a good candidate atm if his form doesn't pick up.
Owen had a great calendar year. Scored 41 goals in 45 games or so. And had some high profile performances in there (hattrick v Germany, fa cup final) and won the UEFA cup. Definitely ahead of Beckham that year.
Still one of the more forgettable winners though. There are many players who never won a balon dor far more deserving.
Doesn't belong in this thread though as his form only dropped off significantly when he left Madrid five years later.
Still one of the more forgettable winners though. There are many players who never won a balon dor far more deserving.
Doesn't belong in this thread though as his form only dropped off significantly when he left Madrid five years later.
He shouldnt even won that, Beckham was a monster in 1999.
To be fair, the last 15 years has been dominated almost exclusively by two winners, so it's going to be difficult for many people younger than 25 to judge. I'd say between 2001-2007, pretty much all players who won the award became outdated in the next 2-3 years (Nedved may be an exception). The biggest fall from grace were Shevchenko, Ronaldinho and possibly Kaka. I remember when Chelsea purchased Shevchenko, I thought this is the end. After seeing his first 5 games, I started praying he'd start every game since that's how dog crap he was at Chelsea. Kaka should have never moved to Madrid.
Wasn't it followed by two solid seasons?
The likes of Cannavaro, Kaka or Owen could be candidates for that title.
Back then the award was given to the best player in Europe, so the premises were different, but Rossi won it because of 3 matches in the '82 WC. He was never the best player in the world. Not even close. There was probably 4 players just in the '82 Brazil team (Zico, Eder, Falcao and Socrates), he scored a hattrick against, that were better than him. It was a strange B'dor in every way. Not just was he probably not the best player in Europe, but he was also suspended from football the first half of 1982 because of matchfixing (3 years, reduced to 2 years). He was brilliant in the late stages of that WC and absolute vital to Italy's title, but giving him the B'dor was a scandal.
It's also worth noting that the 2 best players the last 14 years are both convicted for tax fraud, and one has 2 rape charges on his CV (one dismissed and one he was sentenced to pay the victim). There should be some kind of rule against giving these kind of awards to convicted criminals.
We should go for better idols and rolemodels.
Titles plays too big a role in an individual award like B'dor, along with status (Messi and Ronaldo).
Was Messi the best player in 2021? No.
Was Jorghinho the 3rd best player on the planet in 2021? Not even top 20 in my book.
Apart from Lewandowski, I can't really think of anyone who was a good shout to be deserve it. But I agree titles can play too big a role.
Beckham had a monster season, we had a monster season, and he deserved massive cred for that, but do you think Beckham at any point of his career was a better footballer than ZZ?
Shevchenko is number one I think. Cannavaro springs to mind too.
Messi it doesn’t matter he’s the greatest player of all time in his mid 30’s now who cares. His latest Ballon D Or was hardly his claim to fame.
Messi it doesn’t matter he’s the greatest player of all time in his mid 30’s now who cares. His latest Ballon D Or was hardly his claim to fame.
Oh i thought you meant it as being the world's best at the time, but yeah he definitely was an exciting prospect but it never really materialized.
Ballon d'Or wasn't and isn't about who is the best in the world either, it's about who has the most remarkable season.
If anything going by the more recent ones and excluding Ronnie and messi ( both at the very top of the game) it almost seems to be a curse winning the thing.
You can say after his 7th record win at 34 it doesn't mean much. Many great players retire at that age or go the MLS or something like that. But it's still been quite a drop off.
Calender year. Remarkable calender year for some reason.
Both kaka and Shevchenko ruined themselves by taking those daft tranfer decisions( to be fair in case of kaka it was injuries catching up to him), I guess Millan got some good cash out of it at least.
What was daft about them taking those transfers?
There is no calendar involved, it's just year.
It's kind of stupid. It's should just be a season + summer award.
I'll object to that claim, it is widely described at being given to the world's best player who usually has a monster season anyway.
For example lingard might go on and get 30 goals a season which is remarkable indeed considering his standards but he he still won't get it if say lewa or messi get 40 goals a year which isn't that remarkable considering their standards.
Chelsea didn't fit Shevchenko at all and kaka choosing to go to a team which he would be immediately overshadowed by the more shiny toy didn't help his prospects, kaka seemed to be forced to take that transfer though as Millan seemed to need the cash.
You can object if you want but that's not what France Football thinks and they have been very vocal about it for decades. That's why the likes of Modric, Cannavaro, Papin, Simonsen or Belanov won it.
It's been two months since Messi won his last Ballon d'Or. His form is concerning at the moment but it's a bit early to compare it to other BO winners' two/three following year-periods.
I'll get your assertion and the morality of it and do indeed think that the football organization should amp up their criminal investigational and hold people more accountable but in the end of the day the award is clearly given with the intention of declaring the best player in the world not the best human being or role model, just because someone has questionable character or is an asshole doesn't make their professional achievements worthless. Case in point carvaggio, one of the most celebrated artists to leave who was also a murderer.
Considering his age, I doubt he'll be pulling up trees at 35 or 36. He said himself he never expected to win the Ballon D'or again when he won in 2019.
You win.
Or it's more likely that they take shit decisions from time to time with no continuity or logic behind it and probably the promotional matters being the most important deciding factor.
You think that your interpretation is more likely than the interpretation of France Football? The logic is actually pretty obvious, traditionally the winner of the Ballon d'Or isn't the best player in the world but the best performer in a successful team during the year(with summer tournaments being extremely important), the exception being when FIFA and France Football collaborated and changed the voting system to include players and coaches, which is something that FF didn't like and why they split in 2016.
Emm it's not just me though, for example why did Messi win it last year while lewa clearly had a more remarkable season in terms of goalscorer as such, clearly it was that France football considered messi to be the world's best player now whether that assertion is true or not is another matter.
Because Messi had a great statistical year and also won the Copa America. Lewandowski had a great statistical and that's pretty much it, no CL and no summer tournament glory.
Maybe because Messi is much more than a goalscorer. Their overall points were close though.
Should have played for free at Barca for a year, not like he needs the cash. He obviously doesn’t want to be at PSG and the $$$ doesn’t motivate him.
Even if he wanted he couldn't, that's against spanish rules.
I think people in charge of rewards like this have a moral obligation. There are scumbags in all sports and in all layers of society, but these shouldn't be lifted to glory and idolized.
Early 17th century Italy is not the best parallell to the world today though, and Carvaggio died on the run with a deathsentence hanging over him.
I'm sorry what?
Let's not re-write history please - he most certainly was something to write home about. If he was United we'd have been raving about him. Owen fell off a cliff once his hamstrings went during his time at Madrid. Michael Owen from the time he burst on the scene in his second season for Liverpool he'd benched Robbie Fowler who's powers were waning and at the age of 18 and cemented himself as the first team striker. He was a generational talent and was 10x the player Greenwood and Rashford are. His pace was absolutely electric and he had the close control to match. What's more his finishing was clinical as they come. Once he lost his speed he wasn't even quarter the player, much like Torres. I mean, go and watch his goal for England vs the Argies, I remember him scoring quite a few like that for pool where he'd beat 3/4 players and finish with unerring accuracy.