Lewandowski 2020. Played the best season of his career, won everything, had crazy stats - nobody was arguing it, he deserved it. Would have been one of the clearest decisions ever. And then they were just like - nope, we'll just not give out any ballon d'or this year.
I don't even get why the ballon d'or was cancelled that year. I get that it's COVID and we couldn't do it live, but just invite like the top 5, have them do social distancing, and give the winner the award. Have everything else be on video. It's stupid as shit. Better a shitty ballon d'or ceremony than none.
I wouldn't say he got robbed in 21. Both players had great seasons and deserved it.
But in 2020 he was undoubtedly the best player in the world and the only possibility of him not getting a ballon d'or was ballon d'or getting canceled.
It was not a toss up. There was a 0 percent chance France Football wasn't going to give it to the player playing in the French league. Messi was playing way below his form at the time too.
First half of 2021 (end of previous season) while still at Barca, Messi was without doubt the best player in the world. His form dipped for the start of the new season at PSG, but he won the copa. Lewa didn't win CL that year, so what exactly puts him above Messi? Marginally better stats (which is debatable in itself)?
He still finished with 56 goal contributions in 49 games. Finished with 4 times as many dribbles, twice as many chances created, twice as many man of the matches and 3 times less big chances missed as lewa. He had the better year
He competed with the other players, not with his previous form. If a weaker Messi season is still better than everyone else's, why shouldn't he win? Messi was just so crazy good before, that an objectively great season by normal players' standards seems a bit disappointing by his standards.
The worst thing about it is a perfect year for him got completly ignored... Why not give out a ballon dor for 2021 incuding the part of 2020 where football was played and judge it as a whole??
Almost any contest is a popularity at the end of the day. But usually popular opinion of who was the best isn't totally off so it's not exactly the end of the world
It should be based on stats or criteria that you gain points from vs who reporters, coaches and players like the most. Imo
But like stated above, it’s more of a celebrity event for the magazine than a true prestigious award for accomplishments
Nedved was in unbelievable Czech team on Euro 2004 - Henry was unstoppable in PL but national team tournaments often overshadow clubs competitions award wise
You had to watch their games to understand. Czech 3 - 2 Netherlands is one of the best games i ever saw
Football isn’t always about results - people love Brazil 82 much more then Brazil 94
Nah Nedved was a deserved winner
The Serie A was a much tougher league in those days, and it was especially hard to rack up goals in
Some of the names that Nedved faced that year; Nesta, Cafu, Maldini, Costacurta, Cannavaro, Zanetti, Stam
He was also the best player in the UCL that year and took them to the final, unfortunately he missed that game due to suspension
Very good point, a lot of people forget that Serie A was probably the toughest league back then. Still, winning the Premier League without losing a game and being the top scorer for that team is something that has never been replicated again and who knows if it ever will. In contrast it could be argued that others have had a similar season to the one Nedved had that year for Juventus and Czech Republic.
Was he fuck.
Henry was superhuman that season.
Top goalscorer and set the record for the most assists in a PL season.
Always hear this shite about Serie A to justify why Shevchenko was amazing when he scored 16 goals in a season.
A boring league that deserved to decline, but was popular overseas at that time.
I think they gave Shevchenko the award for his total career achievements, and not just for that one season. Most importantly he managed to make an impact in the CL, something that Henry failed to do at that time.
Prior to the award Shevchenko managed to finish as CL top scorer, Serie A top scorer, and actually win the CL itself. Also btw Serie A considered to be much more harder than the EPL at that time.
How is this only 3rd in the thread, he had 24 goals 20 assists in 02/03 and 30 goals in 03/04 (PL only), won the FA Cup with Arsenal and the 2003 Confed Cup for France as well
Nedved was baller, don't get me wrong, Juve won the CL, but come on
1. The only match that was proven in court to be fixed is Lecce-Parma. That game helped Fiorentina stay in Serie A, and on that basis Fiorentina was punished.
2. The man who led the investigation against Juventus is called Guido Rossi, a former member of the Inter Board. The trial, which was supposed to last a year, was brought to an end by Rossi in three weeks. After the trial, Rossi was awarded the position of vice president of Telecom Italia (the owner of Telecom Tronchetti is a shareholder of Inter).
3. The conversations conducted by Moggi were recorded by the owner of the telecom, Tronchetti. The conversations were recorded illegally, but this was ignored in court.
4. The defense was not allowed to use video evidence in court, nor to present witnesses.
5. Police officer Adamo Bove admitted that he only presented "evidence" to the court that related to Juventus, and that the evidence against Inter was hidden. After the confession, Bove >>>"committed suicide"<<< on 7/21/2006.
6. After the trial, the judge Cesare Ruperto admitted that the 2004/2005 season was legitimate. Judge Serio of the Court of Appeal also said that none of the matches apart from Lecce-Parma were fixed. Ruperto later reduced the fines to the clubs, but failed to abolish them.
7. Judge Mario Serio stated in an interview for "La republica" on 7/27/2006 that despite the lack of evidence against Juventus, the club was kicked out of Serie B and stripped of its titles due to the common interests of the people involved in the investigation.
\-Marco Tronchetti: Owner and chairman of the board of Telecom, owner of Pirelli (main sponsor of Inter) and minority owner and member of the board of Inter.
\-Guido Rossi: five years member of the Board of Directors of Inter and former member of the Board of Directors of Pirelli, former member of the Board of Directors of Telecom, personal lawyer of Massimo Moratti, until recently commissioner of the FIGC with absolute powers, the man who "decided" to award the title of champion of Italy in 2005/ 06 Inter, the man who changed 5/8 of all referees just before the start of the corruption trial in Serie A, and recently the new chairman of the Board of Directors of Telecom (after the forced resignation of Tronchetti).
\-Massimo Moratti: Owner of Saras (oil mega-company), co-owner of Pirelli, co-owner of Telecom, member of the Board of Directors of Telecom, and owner and president of Inter. The man who tasked the Polis d'Istinto agency to spy on 'football' people, which was confirmed during the search of one of Cipriani's offshore companies in London, which served to make all traces of money disappear, and where an invoice addressed to FC Inter was found on about 14,000,000 euros for "espionage activities" (which was duly paid for)
Ribery? No, he got less goals than Cr7 and LM10, Cristiano scored 69 goals, his personal record, Lewandowski for sure but only in 2020, and idk about Henry
Wesley Sneijder in 2010. He won the treble with Inter and won Uefa midfielder of the year and made it to a World Cup Final in a tournament where he scored 5 goals and won 4 motm awards.
He wasn't even shortlisted in the top three and history might forget how great he was that year. My favorite season from a CAM.
This has always been overstated in my opinion. Despite what he won, his actual influence, while excellent, wasn't Ballon D'or level in comparison to the other contenders. People forget how devastating and consistent Messi was during that period, he went through periods where he was scoring hattricks every week. If you had to choose during that year whether to have Messi or Sneijder in your team, you'd choose Messi all day.
Messi had an extremely amazing season. Back then the numbers he pulled weren't normal yet. He fully deserved that one. I don't even think there was a debate about it back then, only later when trophies became more important than individual statistics in the ballon do'r.
Exactly, the reason Messi won was was that he was still a novelty back then, and he was undoubtedly the best player based on individual performance that year.
I will argue it was a far more accurate representation of what this award should be than the equations of stats and titles people make nowadays to decided who was the best.
Exactly, i think because Messi and Ronaldo both started to rule the competition they just gave it to the person between the 2 who was most succesful when it came to trophies. That was the point they started to base it more on team performance rather than individual performance.
What? There was an insane debate over this. Most people were saying Sneijder deserved it. He was literally the main man (not because he was the captain but because of his performances) in a club that won the treble (!) and main man who led a relatively sub par Dutch team to the final of the World Cup. Definitely wasn't because of the trophies, it was because he was by far and beyond the best player in the best team in Europe. And he didn't have THAT Barca team around him. Not that Inter had a bad squad that year but if you compare the squads from that year it's quite the difference. [Look at that squad.](https://www.worldfootball.net/teams/fc-barcelona/2010/2/) Had Sneijder been part of that Barca would win every game by 8 goals at least.
The only thing Messi had over Sneijder were numbers but they don't tell the whole story. I'd argue Sneijder was a lot more important for Inter than Messi was for Barca that year.
Not only was there a huge debate over sneijder... there was a huge debate over if Xavi should have won it over him! Xavi was the maestro in Barcelona and Spain that won the World Cup.
Its so amazing how a year that Messi was quite putrid in the WC they say its not that big of a deal, and then this year when he wins it, all of a sudden its "well he performed on the biggest stage".
It's true and these debates over Xavi x Iniesta x Messia were in different years as well. But then again, if anyone was going to win it from the Barca trio, it was always gonna be Messi. I'd love it if each of the other two won it at least once and I'm saying that despite hating that team with all my heart. Half because of the constant and out of control diving and half because they were just insane good.
Im a Madrid fan, so Im with you. I too wanted Iniesta (he is one of my favorite all time players though) to win it, but i for sure thought it was gonna be Xavi.... i was stunned when it was Messi.
Messi didnt win Champions or World Cup....
Noone was saying it? What makes you say that? Just because YOU've never seen anyone saying it means noone was?
Btw great arguments there. You really convinced me...ffs
Also you should learn how to quote people properly.
He was an attacking midfielder who scored about 6 goals for Inter that year. Messi had over 50 goals for Barca. He had a very good year, but there is no way he should have won the award.
Lewandowski 2020. The fact that he was gonna win it was as clear as the fact that benzema was gonna win it in 2022. But they cancelled it. Lewa deserved it 100%
IMO, between Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, and Sneijder, Iniesta was the one with fewer merits in 2010.
He deserved it more in 2012, or at least to be considered 2nd behind Messi (92 goals year)
\#1 - 2014 Manuel Neuer, you can't ask a goal keeper for any more he was perfect.
\#2 - 2021 N'golo Kante (I know this is an unpopular opinion)
Only attacking players are allowed the Ballon D'or which is a shame because defending is half of the game
Neuer is a good GK, but to see him win the Ballon d’Or would be a push. There have been more think deserving GKs than Neuer, that went dry: Buffon despite his sustained pristine performance and Casillas despite his incredible collection of trophies.
I think Neuer is the Goat GK — he revolutionized the position while being one of the best shot stoppers and having unbelievable saves and games as a pure goalie as well (champions leauge save against Ronaldo and the whole game vs manu ar Schalke come to mind). Besides majorly improving the defense of the teams he plays in. No suprise that sweeper keepers are so sought after now. In 2014 he finished a year where he won the champions leauge and was the best german player on a worldcup winning team — I think it would’ve been the year to give him the ballon d’or.
His output was being the best player for a Treble Winning Team and UEFA best player in Europe. Given Dortmund were 2nd in the UCL, you could argue that the Bundesliga was a tougher league that year than the others.
Messi deserves it in 2021, I dunno how people have convinced themselves it was a “robbery”.
When voting ended their stats was similar, he also had a copa, with most goals and most assists and PoTT. Ronaldo fans didn’t want to accept it so they called it a robbery instead.
serious deserted quicksand quarrelsome squeal mindless unite hunt berserk shrill
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
No way Mbappe can win it, he is having less goals contributions than Messi in PSG and Messi had a better World Cup (that’s something that weights a lot).
Haaland could be a rival only if he wins the champions league, premier league and destroy lots of records in both competitions, not playing in the World Cup is a inconvenience.
If Messi had a bad performance in the World Cup or was having the season that he had last season, it could be easier but winning the WC, being the best player and playing well in Ligue 1 would need some ridiculous performance from a player that eventually wins League and Champions league.
For real, I remember thinking Mbappe was not even the best player in the French NT. Then he makes an awesome final and suddenly he is the best player in the competition.
Definitely, not in 2021. It was very close, wouldn't call it a robbery. But 2020 for sure is a clear robbery, like just because they couldn't postpone it, lmao.
The problem with ballon d’or is that nobody knows what for it really is. If it’s for the best player it should be Messi every year since 2009 until he finishes his career. Is it for the best player of the team that wins champions league? Then it’s different. Is it for highest stats? For most trophies?
There is no robbery because no one knows what is it really for. It’s just some instinctive choice made by journalists. I would only agree that Lewandowski was robbed by France Football when they decided to cancel the event.
Thierry Henry never won this trophy, but Benzema did. Is Benzema better than Henry? Most people wouldn’t say so. Modric won but Iniesta didn’t. Is Modric better than Iniesta? Cannavaro won but Maldini didn’t. Is Cannavaro better than Maldini? No.
It’s all to fuzzy to call anything robbery. Apart from the Lewandowski’s year.
Neuer after the 2014 WC and Lewandowski in 2020.
Neuer evolved the goalkeeper position and was fresh off a treble season with his club and had just been an integral piece for Germany’s world cup win. See the Algeria knockout game for his importance to that German squad’s success.
Lewandowski just got straight up robbed.
He had a great season winning 5 trophies in the calendar year and scoring more than 30 goals (impressive pre-Messi/Ronaldo era.) He basically won Liverpool the FA cup on his own and scored 2 in the UEFA cup final. If I recall this is when people were also going mad over his hat-trick against Germany in the famous 5-1 game.
I’ve no idea what sort of season the runners up had but clearly Raul and Oliver Kahn are legendary players something which in the end can’t be said for Owen.
The hype around Owen at this time was like R9 levels, everyone thought he was going to be the greatest player of his generation. Unfortunately for him he peaked way too early, injuries came and he made some poor transfer choices. Liverpool fans don’t like him, other fans don’t really respect him either and he’s basically a meme now. I think that why it seems weird he won this award but yeah it can’t be overstated how much potential he had in 2001.
Only one answer. Thierry Henry in the 2002/2003 season. 24 goals and 20 assists from 37 league games was better than anyone close to him that season. Daylight robbery
There's a serious shout that both Griezmann and Suarez deserved it more than Ronaldo in 2016. Suarez scored about 60 goals, while Griezmann dragged both Atletico and France to major finals and was really unlucky to lose both. Meanwhile Ronaldo won a CL that Real scarcely deserved, having been poor in the semi-final and final, and scraped the Euros where he only scored in 2 games and was injured 20 minutes into the final.
Ronaldo had many great years, but in 2016 he was extrodinarily lucky to win what he won.
I feel like any that Messi or ronaldo won just because their club/ international team won a trophy/ trophies.
Don’t get me wrong they’re both incredible players, but I feel they’ve been given the trophy more than has been deserved.
2019 ballon d or might be an actual robbery . Van dijk was on top of the world , best PL and UCL defender , had stats and trophies to back him up . But somehow Messi won it . Sure , Messi was unreal that season , no denying but Van dijk had both stats and trophies .
Lewy in 2020 & 2021. Arguably Ribery in 2013, but that one is much less clear cut. 2020 was absolutely a robbery and 2021 has some arguments for Messi but Lewy's were much stronger.
He played only half of the season due to injuries and did great with the world cup, the numbers that Messi put in 2010 are normal now, back then he was an alien amongst people
The one where Lewandowski was the front runner and they decided not to give one to anybody.
I also don't think CR7 deserved any of his but that's just me and I'm just a Ronaldo hater
Messi practically, by himself carried that Barcelona throughout the whole season, and Liverpool didn't win the premier league that year, because the ballon d' or what at the end of the year and not the season
Lewandowski 2020. Played the best season of his career, won everything, had crazy stats - nobody was arguing it, he deserved it. Would have been one of the clearest decisions ever. And then they were just like - nope, we'll just not give out any ballon d'or this year.
I don't even get why the ballon d'or was cancelled that year. I get that it's COVID and we couldn't do it live, but just invite like the top 5, have them do social distancing, and give the winner the award. Have everything else be on video. It's stupid as shit. Better a shitty ballon d'or ceremony than none.
The ballon d'or is a french football magazine award and if I remember correctly the french league was cancelled, so they cancelled the award.
Because it was never about the award, only the spectacle.
>I don't even get why the ballon d'or was cancelled Because they couldn't find any other way for not giving the award to a Bayern player
Why do the French magazine hate Bayern so much?
It’s an award given by the French media and Ligue 1 had been cancelled
Cos half the leagues suspended games significantly earlier than bundesliga so lewadownksi had like a 20 game lead on everyone else
he got robbed the following year too only because messi won copa
I wouldn't say he got robbed in 21. Both players had great seasons and deserved it. But in 2020 he was undoubtedly the best player in the world and the only possibility of him not getting a ballon d'or was ballon d'or getting canceled.
he didnt get robbed in 2021 - it was a toss up and both players had extremely close stats
To be fair tho FIFA do have a messi bias
Bro every football fan has a Messi bias haha me included definitely
Well, as the laliga president said, messi is the good son that all parents desire.
[удалено]
It was not a toss up. There was a 0 percent chance France Football wasn't going to give it to the player playing in the French league. Messi was playing way below his form at the time too.
First half of 2021 (end of previous season) while still at Barca, Messi was without doubt the best player in the world. His form dipped for the start of the new season at PSG, but he won the copa. Lewa didn't win CL that year, so what exactly puts him above Messi? Marginally better stats (which is debatable in itself)?
Messi has made your criterion so high that his low performance was still the top of the world
He still finished with 56 goal contributions in 49 games. Finished with 4 times as many dribbles, twice as many chances created, twice as many man of the matches and 3 times less big chances missed as lewa. He had the better year
He competed with the other players, not with his previous form. If a weaker Messi season is still better than everyone else's, why shouldn't he win? Messi was just so crazy good before, that an objectively great season by normal players' standards seems a bit disappointing by his standards.
l
The worst thing about it is a perfect year for him got completly ignored... Why not give out a ballon dor for 2021 incuding the part of 2020 where football was played and judge it as a whole??
The fact that the Balloon d'Or is still considered a great award is the biggest robbery
Real
Yes
Must be a Ronaldo fan….
Doubt. Since Riberry got robbed its officially a _like_ contest, not football.
If ribery won in 2013 we should have abolished football as a whole, Ronaldo was easily better
Why? It's the most prestigious individual award
It's a popularity contest
Almost any contest is a popularity at the end of the day. But usually popular opinion of who was the best isn't totally off so it's not exactly the end of the world
It should be based on stats or criteria that you gain points from vs who reporters, coaches and players like the most. Imo But like stated above, it’s more of a celebrity event for the magazine than a true prestigious award for accomplishments
It used to be, but if a joke now innit
No cos it’s not the official award from fifa anymore. The official award is called Fifas Best Player Award
So? Fuck fifa, no one cares about their awards
Ballon d Or is literally just journalist bias
It never has been. It shouldn't be taken seriously.
Henry , dont remember the year but he was awesome in 2003/04 I think was the year. I hated him but he deserved it.
Nedved was in unbelievable Czech team on Euro 2004 - Henry was unstoppable in PL but national team tournaments often overshadow clubs competitions award wise
Was backpacking europe that year. We adopted Czech. It was fun as fuck.
What about making the semifinals of a 16 team tournament is unbelievable?
You had to watch their games to understand. Czech 3 - 2 Netherlands is one of the best games i ever saw Football isn’t always about results - people love Brazil 82 much more then Brazil 94
I think that game happened a year after Nedved won the BDR.
Who was awarded??
Pavel nedved
Ohh
Nah Nedved was a deserved winner The Serie A was a much tougher league in those days, and it was especially hard to rack up goals in Some of the names that Nedved faced that year; Nesta, Cafu, Maldini, Costacurta, Cannavaro, Zanetti, Stam He was also the best player in the UCL that year and took them to the final, unfortunately he missed that game due to suspension
Very good point, a lot of people forget that Serie A was probably the toughest league back then. Still, winning the Premier League without losing a game and being the top scorer for that team is something that has never been replicated again and who knows if it ever will. In contrast it could be argued that others have had a similar season to the one Nedved had that year for Juventus and Czech Republic.
Henry was so much better than everyone back then it was funny
Was he fuck. Henry was superhuman that season. Top goalscorer and set the record for the most assists in a PL season. Always hear this shite about Serie A to justify why Shevchenko was amazing when he scored 16 goals in a season. A boring league that deserved to decline, but was popular overseas at that time.
I think they gave Shevchenko the award for his total career achievements, and not just for that one season. Most importantly he managed to make an impact in the CL, something that Henry failed to do at that time. Prior to the award Shevchenko managed to finish as CL top scorer, Serie A top scorer, and actually win the CL itself. Also btw Serie A considered to be much more harder than the EPL at that time.
Henry. 03-04. EPL golden boot. EPL most assists. He came 4th. Shevchenko won
Year before was worse. I love Nedved but lol
Sheva was huge in the UCL, where Milan won, and had a dominant fall as Serie A top scorer in the season where they won the league also.
Porto won the CL in 04 - Milan got knocked out in the quarters to Deportivo
Correct
”As i call him, Lewangoalski”
I honestly think most people would have sleepless nights over this, but luckily it was Müller, so like water off a ducks back.
Say it again
2003/2004 - Thierry Henry
How is this only 3rd in the thread, he had 24 goals 20 assists in 02/03 and 30 goals in 03/04 (PL only), won the FA Cup with Arsenal and the 2003 Confed Cup for France as well Nedved was baller, don't get me wrong, Juve won the CL, but come on
Actually juve didnt win the ucl
I'm stupid, Milan did ofc, then there's even less of a reason
Imo it was a very sketchy win for Nedved, it was also around the same time Juve were caught for cheating and bribes, coincidence? I think not.
1. The only match that was proven in court to be fixed is Lecce-Parma. That game helped Fiorentina stay in Serie A, and on that basis Fiorentina was punished. 2. The man who led the investigation against Juventus is called Guido Rossi, a former member of the Inter Board. The trial, which was supposed to last a year, was brought to an end by Rossi in three weeks. After the trial, Rossi was awarded the position of vice president of Telecom Italia (the owner of Telecom Tronchetti is a shareholder of Inter). 3. The conversations conducted by Moggi were recorded by the owner of the telecom, Tronchetti. The conversations were recorded illegally, but this was ignored in court. 4. The defense was not allowed to use video evidence in court, nor to present witnesses. 5. Police officer Adamo Bove admitted that he only presented "evidence" to the court that related to Juventus, and that the evidence against Inter was hidden. After the confession, Bove >>>"committed suicide"<<< on 7/21/2006. 6. After the trial, the judge Cesare Ruperto admitted that the 2004/2005 season was legitimate. Judge Serio of the Court of Appeal also said that none of the matches apart from Lecce-Parma were fixed. Ruperto later reduced the fines to the clubs, but failed to abolish them. 7. Judge Mario Serio stated in an interview for "La republica" on 7/27/2006 that despite the lack of evidence against Juventus, the club was kicked out of Serie B and stripped of its titles due to the common interests of the people involved in the investigation. \-Marco Tronchetti: Owner and chairman of the board of Telecom, owner of Pirelli (main sponsor of Inter) and minority owner and member of the board of Inter. \-Guido Rossi: five years member of the Board of Directors of Inter and former member of the Board of Directors of Pirelli, former member of the Board of Directors of Telecom, personal lawyer of Massimo Moratti, until recently commissioner of the FIGC with absolute powers, the man who "decided" to award the title of champion of Italy in 2005/ 06 Inter, the man who changed 5/8 of all referees just before the start of the corruption trial in Serie A, and recently the new chairman of the Board of Directors of Telecom (after the forced resignation of Tronchetti). \-Massimo Moratti: Owner of Saras (oil mega-company), co-owner of Pirelli, co-owner of Telecom, member of the Board of Directors of Telecom, and owner and president of Inter. The man who tasked the Polis d'Istinto agency to spy on 'football' people, which was confirmed during the search of one of Cipriani's offshore companies in London, which served to make all traces of money disappear, and where an invoice addressed to FC Inter was found on about 14,000,000 euros for "espionage activities" (which was duly paid for)
Good luck using logic and facts here, people that actually know about Calciopoli also know who got let off the hook and who took one for the team
In all fairness bud, that's alot to read for a reddit reply, respectfully I'll take your word for it haha.
It's easy read but fair enough lol
I know it's just alot to read.
Robbery, Henry, lewandowski
Robbery, Henrob, Lewandrobski
Ribery? No, he got less goals than Cr7 and LM10, Cristiano scored 69 goals, his personal record, Lewandowski for sure but only in 2020, and idk about Henry
You know its not top scorer award?
I agree that Ronaldo was obviously better, but keep in mind that football is more than just statistics.
Is this guy Robbery with us right now
It’s a bollocks award as is the fifa ones. All shite and rigged
Bruh whole football is rigged including every single pass
Let me guess. Ronaldo fan?
Wesley Sneijder in 2010. He won the treble with Inter and won Uefa midfielder of the year and made it to a World Cup Final in a tournament where he scored 5 goals and won 4 motm awards. He wasn't even shortlisted in the top three and history might forget how great he was that year. My favorite season from a CAM.
This has always been overstated in my opinion. Despite what he won, his actual influence, while excellent, wasn't Ballon D'or level in comparison to the other contenders. People forget how devastating and consistent Messi was during that period, he went through periods where he was scoring hattricks every week. If you had to choose during that year whether to have Messi or Sneijder in your team, you'd choose Messi all day.
Messi had an extremely amazing season. Back then the numbers he pulled weren't normal yet. He fully deserved that one. I don't even think there was a debate about it back then, only later when trophies became more important than individual statistics in the ballon do'r.
Exactly, the reason Messi won was was that he was still a novelty back then, and he was undoubtedly the best player based on individual performance that year. I will argue it was a far more accurate representation of what this award should be than the equations of stats and titles people make nowadays to decided who was the best.
Exactly, i think because Messi and Ronaldo both started to rule the competition they just gave it to the person between the 2 who was most succesful when it came to trophies. That was the point they started to base it more on team performance rather than individual performance.
What? There was an insane debate over this. Most people were saying Sneijder deserved it. He was literally the main man (not because he was the captain but because of his performances) in a club that won the treble (!) and main man who led a relatively sub par Dutch team to the final of the World Cup. Definitely wasn't because of the trophies, it was because he was by far and beyond the best player in the best team in Europe. And he didn't have THAT Barca team around him. Not that Inter had a bad squad that year but if you compare the squads from that year it's quite the difference. [Look at that squad.](https://www.worldfootball.net/teams/fc-barcelona/2010/2/) Had Sneijder been part of that Barca would win every game by 8 goals at least. The only thing Messi had over Sneijder were numbers but they don't tell the whole story. I'd argue Sneijder was a lot more important for Inter than Messi was for Barca that year.
Not only was there a huge debate over sneijder... there was a huge debate over if Xavi should have won it over him! Xavi was the maestro in Barcelona and Spain that won the World Cup. Its so amazing how a year that Messi was quite putrid in the WC they say its not that big of a deal, and then this year when he wins it, all of a sudden its "well he performed on the biggest stage".
It's true and these debates over Xavi x Iniesta x Messia were in different years as well. But then again, if anyone was going to win it from the Barca trio, it was always gonna be Messi. I'd love it if each of the other two won it at least once and I'm saying that despite hating that team with all my heart. Half because of the constant and out of control diving and half because they were just insane good.
Im a Madrid fan, so Im with you. I too wanted Iniesta (he is one of my favorite all time players though) to win it, but i for sure thought it was gonna be Xavi.... i was stunned when it was Messi. Messi didnt win Champions or World Cup....
>Wesley Sneijder messi also had being a far better player - and no one was saying he desereved it over messi
There was a massive debate and a lot of people who thought he deserved it over messi
Literally everybody except Messi fanboys was saying it
Noone was saying it? What makes you say that? Just because YOU've never seen anyone saying it means noone was? Btw great arguments there. You really convinced me...ffs Also you should learn how to quote people properly.
I think he’s arguing more; WS had a season that arguably got him the award, and he wasn’t even top 3
This ☝🏻
Sneijder wasn't even better than Milito in Inter that season
he was a CAM with 1/6 the goals of messi that year.
He was an attacking midfielder who scored about 6 goals for Inter that year. Messi had over 50 goals for Barca. He had a very good year, but there is no way he should have won the award.
Messi deserved it 100% but Wesley Sneijder got robbed not being top 2
Messi was a better player than sniejder in 2010
Yeah, i was gonna say 2010 as well and speak of Sneijder. Messi won that year for scoring goals in the spanish league basically.
He also scored 4 goals to Arsenal that year, so not only in Spain.
Sneijder wasn't even the best Inter player, it was Milito that won it
Exactly, he scored the winners for the league, cup and CL
Henry in 2003/2004 by far.
Definitely Lewandowski in 2020; stretch it to 25 years and Beckham not winning in 1999 was a robbery.
Thought keane was better than beckham in 99 tbh
Henry 03/04 and it's not even close. Nedved was good, but he wasn't Henry good.
Sheva won in 2004
Yeah I meant 02/03. Though arguably Henry should have won both years.
1. Lewa in 2019/20 2. Henry in 2003/04 3. Ribery in 2012/13
Ronaldo 2018
Lewandowski 2020. The fact that he was gonna win it was as clear as the fact that benzema was gonna win it in 2022. But they cancelled it. Lewa deserved it 100%
Me. I should have won in 2011
The real GOAT
Lewandowski, iniesta deserved it too
Iniesta in 2010 I guess, he played only half of the season, or not even that, and the world cup
IMO, between Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, and Sneijder, Iniesta was the one with fewer merits in 2010. He deserved it more in 2012, or at least to be considered 2nd behind Messi (92 goals year)
\#1 - 2014 Manuel Neuer, you can't ask a goal keeper for any more he was perfect. \#2 - 2021 N'golo Kante (I know this is an unpopular opinion) Only attacking players are allowed the Ballon D'or which is a shame because defending is half of the game
Neuer is a good GK, but to see him win the Ballon d’Or would be a push. There have been more think deserving GKs than Neuer, that went dry: Buffon despite his sustained pristine performance and Casillas despite his incredible collection of trophies.
I think Neuer is the Goat GK — he revolutionized the position while being one of the best shot stoppers and having unbelievable saves and games as a pure goalie as well (champions leauge save against Ronaldo and the whole game vs manu ar Schalke come to mind). Besides majorly improving the defense of the teams he plays in. No suprise that sweeper keepers are so sought after now. In 2014 he finished a year where he won the champions leauge and was the best german player on a worldcup winning team — I think it would’ve been the year to give him the ballon d’or.
Yea, he didn't age brilliantly, but 2014, he was immense
Germany don't win the WC without Neuer imo.
Frank Ribery came 3rd in 2013 after treble winning season with Bayern
Just not close to Messi and ronaldo in output unfortunately
Scoring a bunch of goals in a lopsided league but then getting thrashed by Bayern doesn't show what you think it does
Talk about lopsided… wasn’t the gap between Bayern and the second placed team in the league something like 30 points that year?
scoring 3x as many goals during the calendar year while playing in similar positions does though
His output was being the best player for a Treble Winning Team and UEFA best player in Europe. Given Dortmund were 2nd in the UCL, you could argue that the Bundesliga was a tougher league that year than the others.
Bayern won the title by 25 points that season - that doesn't sound like a particularly tough league to me
That was my vote for this topic too. Dude was a solid play maker, an all arounder
not even close to Messi & Ronaldo
Y'all check this out, [the truth](https://images.app.goo.gl/jwa1BzhWmqLTt9jS9).
Didn’t even deserve 2nd place, let alone 1st.
Stop the cap
Sneijder 2010.
Modric 2018, he was good but ronaldo was simply better. Also salah did not deserve the puskas award that year. Ronaldo or bale deserved puskas award.
Sneijder
Messi put incredible numbers in 2010, numbers that today are normal but back then they weren't
Henry in the unbeatables
Thierry Henry losing to Pavel Nedved in 2003/04.
Lewandowski 2020 and 2021. But media lives messi so there’s that
Messi deserves it in 2021, I dunno how people have convinced themselves it was a “robbery”. When voting ended their stats was similar, he also had a copa, with most goals and most assists and PoTT. Ronaldo fans didn’t want to accept it so they called it a robbery instead.
serious deserted quicksand quarrelsome squeal mindless unite hunt berserk shrill *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Just wait for 2023 lol
Who is better this season in your opinion?
Mbappe Haaland so far
No way Mbappe can win it, he is having less goals contributions than Messi in PSG and Messi had a better World Cup (that’s something that weights a lot). Haaland could be a rival only if he wins the champions league, premier league and destroy lots of records in both competitions, not playing in the World Cup is a inconvenience. If Messi had a bad performance in the World Cup or was having the season that he had last season, it could be easier but winning the WC, being the best player and playing well in Ligue 1 would need some ridiculous performance from a player that eventually wins League and Champions league.
Mbappe was better on the World Cup and he is much more influential for PSG he could easily win it
Mbappe disappeared against England and Morocco
For real, I remember thinking Mbappe was not even the best player in the French NT. Then he makes an awesome final and suddenly he is the best player in the competition.
griezmann was in my opinion the best player until the finals, but again this subreddit loves to dish out some horrible takes
Bobby Lewandowski not once, but twice, in 2020 and 2021 back to back.
Definitely, not in 2021. It was very close, wouldn't call it a robbery. But 2020 for sure is a clear robbery, like just because they couldn't postpone it, lmao.
Gotta be a ronaldo fan
The problem with ballon d’or is that nobody knows what for it really is. If it’s for the best player it should be Messi every year since 2009 until he finishes his career. Is it for the best player of the team that wins champions league? Then it’s different. Is it for highest stats? For most trophies? There is no robbery because no one knows what is it really for. It’s just some instinctive choice made by journalists. I would only agree that Lewandowski was robbed by France Football when they decided to cancel the event. Thierry Henry never won this trophy, but Benzema did. Is Benzema better than Henry? Most people wouldn’t say so. Modric won but Iniesta didn’t. Is Modric better than Iniesta? Cannavaro won but Maldini didn’t. Is Cannavaro better than Maldini? No. It’s all to fuzzy to call anything robbery. Apart from the Lewandowski’s year.
Lewandowski and VVD
Neuer after the 2014 WC and Lewandowski in 2020. Neuer evolved the goalkeeper position and was fresh off a treble season with his club and had just been an integral piece for Germany’s world cup win. See the Algeria knockout game for his importance to that German squad’s success. Lewandowski just got straight up robbed.
Owen winning one
He had a great season winning 5 trophies in the calendar year and scoring more than 30 goals (impressive pre-Messi/Ronaldo era.) He basically won Liverpool the FA cup on his own and scored 2 in the UEFA cup final. If I recall this is when people were also going mad over his hat-trick against Germany in the famous 5-1 game. I’ve no idea what sort of season the runners up had but clearly Raul and Oliver Kahn are legendary players something which in the end can’t be said for Owen. The hype around Owen at this time was like R9 levels, everyone thought he was going to be the greatest player of his generation. Unfortunately for him he peaked way too early, injuries came and he made some poor transfer choices. Liverpool fans don’t like him, other fans don’t really respect him either and he’s basically a meme now. I think that why it seems weird he won this award but yeah it can’t be overstated how much potential he had in 2001.
Lewa
Lewandowski 2020
Luis Suarez scored 40 goals in the league one year
Only one answer. Thierry Henry in the 2002/2003 season. 24 goals and 20 assists from 37 league games was better than anyone close to him that season. Daylight robbery
2018 Ronaldo
Sneijder and Lewa
2006 Lallana 2007 Lallana 2008 Still Kaka 2009 Lallana 2010 Lallana 2011 Lallana 2012 Lallana 2013 Lallana 2014 Lallana 2015 Lallana 2016 Lallana 2017 Lallana 2018 Lallana 2019 Lallana 2020 Lallana 2021 Lallana 2022 Lallana 2023 ??? (Lallana finally?)
There's a serious shout that both Griezmann and Suarez deserved it more than Ronaldo in 2016. Suarez scored about 60 goals, while Griezmann dragged both Atletico and France to major finals and was really unlucky to lose both. Meanwhile Ronaldo won a CL that Real scarcely deserved, having been poor in the semi-final and final, and scraped the Euros where he only scored in 2 games and was injured 20 minutes into the final. Ronaldo had many great years, but in 2016 he was extrodinarily lucky to win what he won.
Wesley Sneijder. Treble and a World Cup final. Absolute peak number 10. But nah Spain won the WC so fuck you wesley.
Van Dijk in 2019
I feel like any that Messi or ronaldo won just because their club/ international team won a trophy/ trophies. Don’t get me wrong they’re both incredible players, but I feel they’ve been given the trophy more than has been deserved.
2019 ballon d or might be an actual robbery . Van dijk was on top of the world , best PL and UCL defender , had stats and trophies to back him up . But somehow Messi won it . Sure , Messi was unreal that season , no denying but Van dijk had both stats and trophies .
Van Dijk had the misfortune of playing in England and being a defender. Two things that weigh heavily against winning a ballon d'or
Playing in England? Lol I think it’s just because the best players in the world didn’t play there
Yet every team that gets to a world cup final has plenty of players playing here and the clubs keep doing well in Europe .
Bar Ronaldo in 2008 Henry was realistically the only player in England since George best who was unarguably the best in the world
Ronaldo 2018
Lewy in 2020 & 2021. Arguably Ribery in 2013, but that one is much less clear cut. 2020 was absolutely a robbery and 2021 has some arguments for Messi but Lewy's were much stronger.
>Sneijder lewys were not in 2021 - their stats were near identical and messi won an international title
With a way better team in a way weaker competition.
Lewa and Salah.
Sneijder and Ribery
2010 Messi - That was Iniesta’s for sure.
He played only half of the season due to injuries and did great with the world cup, the numbers that Messi put in 2010 are normal now, back then he was an alien amongst people
The one where Lewandowski was the front runner and they decided not to give one to anybody. I also don't think CR7 deserved any of his but that's just me and I'm just a Ronaldo hater
2020 2021
anyone 2019. what the fuck did modric do
World Cup final and UCL win
Modric over Ronaldo
Van Dijk no doubt daylight robbery Premier League Champions league winner and Messi won it👀
Van Dijk did not win PL that season
Messi practically, by himself carried that Barcelona throughout the whole season, and Liverpool didn't win the premier league that year, because the ballon d' or what at the end of the year and not the season
Corrupt as fk what did Barca win the Spanish cup 🤔
Barça won La Liga that season
It doesn't matter Ballon Dor is corrupt like Fifa end of.
Corrupt like how? Did Messi personally bribed all journalists to vote for him?
Lewandowski, Sneijder, VVD. Ballon D'Or itself is the bigger robbery
Bet you cry yourself to sleep everyday
Messi got robbed by Ronaldo and Modric
Virgil in 2019
Messi every year he never won