Last Year's comments about FIFA Ballon D'or

FIFA BALLON D’OR FAVOURS EUROPEAN FOOTBALL

Cristiano Ronaldo

The numbers of the winners of the award which is presented by FIFA and French Ballon D’or magazine suggests that the award only focus on European competitions despite the existence of the FIFA competitions around the globe.

Lionel Messi’s win in 2010 which was the year of the world cup suggested that the UEFA and the rest of European football is much stronger than FIFA and it also happened in 2014 when Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal claimed the prize despite struggling at FIFA World Cup  which was held in Brazil.

Leo Messi

The recent 30 man nominees proves that FIFA favours is somehow ruled by UEFA which is the governing body of European football and Cristiano Ronaldo who won UEFA Euro and UEFA Champions League is tipped the favourite to retain the prize this year after it was taken away by Messi in January after winning a treble with FC Barcelona in 2015.

Piere-Emirrick Aubemeyang and Riyad Mahrez are the only African players nominated in the 30-Men-list because of their involvement in European competitions. Khama Billiati is a surprise to have missed the list after a successful season with Mamelodi Sundowns by winning the CAF Champions League, playing a key role in a struggling Zimbabwe side on their road to African Cup of Nations.

Despite winning individual awards like the PSL player of the season, PSL players’ player of the season and PSL midfielder of the season it wasn’t enough for the Malawian-Zimbabwean striker to be nominated in the 30-Men list because of his dedication to African football in mean time. This suggests how superior European football is comparing to football in other continents although FIFA recognise the Prize (Ballon D’or) as the prize for any player competing and helping his team to success just like it was the case with Ricardo Kaka, Fabio Cannavaro and Ronaldo Nazario de Lima (Brazilian  Ronaldo) who helped Brazil to a fifth title after missing European football due an injury.

You can note that Ronaldo de Lima won the Ballon D’OR (then FIFA World player of the year) when he only competed in the World Cup by helping his nation (Brazil) to clinch the title which was held in Korea and Japan in 2002. Now the prize is just for Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo due to their participation and successes in European football which makes the prize useless to other continents.

European football is controlling any related football matter to a big extent that it is not happy with the new FIFA president’s decision of adding the number of teams to compete in World Cup which will benefit African nations, American nations and Asian countries since Europe has already 13 teams in the pot compared to other countries who have seven, six and five respectively with one pot remaining for the host nation.