The Ballon d’Or is the talk of the town in the footballing world right now. Several players have a strong case to claim the title of the world’s best footballer, but Harry Kane and Lamine Yamal are the runaway favourites to win the award.
Yamal would be the first Barcelona player to win the Ballon d’Or since Lionel Messi claimed his 6th at the Catalan club in 2019. If Kane wins, it would mark the end of a much longer wait for Bayern Munich; Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was the last to claim the award for Die
Rekordmeister 45 years ago.
While Kane is still considered the frontrunner to win the 2026 Ballon d’Or, Bayern fans have been hurt one too many times by France Football to have any certainty of their prized striker securing the award — Franck Ribéry and Robert Lewandowski’s robberies come to mind. The organisation, nor the voters, can be trusted.
Pascal Ferré, France Football’s former editor-in-chief, recently jumped to the defence of the publication’s voting process and choice of voters.
“The voters aren’t naïve,” said Ferré in an interview with Le Parisien (via @iMiaSanMia). “They have both the experience and the judgment needed to assess and gauge a player without having to hear 10 or 15 times that he is the best. When I say that a Ballon d’Or can be lost on the communication front, I mean that when a player occupies the spotlight in an awkward way and gives voters the impression that they are being pushed into a decision. This kind of fuss that some people orchestrate can eventually start to irritate voters. Because at that point, the manipulation is becoming rather obvious.”
BFW Analysis
In 2021, Robert Lewandowski scored 41 goals in a single Bundesliga season to break Gerd Müller’s 49-year-old record. The Polish striker also played an invaluable role in leading Bayern to their 9th consecutive Bundesliga title, as well as FIFA Club World Cup glory.
Objectively, Lewandowski had a Ballon d’Or-contending campaign. It’s a good thing Lewandowski’s chances were in the hands of capable journalists who “aren’t naive”… oh wait.
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