Key events
And the winner is Pere Romeu of Barcelona
Of course it is.
Ah, we’re doing the women’s coach first.
Here comes Rafael Benitez to present the coach of the year award. The nominees are:
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Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)
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Luis de la Fuente (Spain)
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Unai Emery (Aston Villa)
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Vincent Kompany (Bayern Munich)
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Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
I guess this one has to be Luis Enrique.
Lopez tells Henry and Scott she’s had a great year, and she has – again. So far, she’s the only player to have taken this award and, at 20, she’s scope to win another.
She then gives her mum a special mention, saying her presence is felt every day and it’s from her she learnt to fight and never give up. What a player she is, what a player she’s going to become.
Vicky Lopez of Barcelona and Spain wins the women’s young talent of the year award for the second year in a row
She’s very grateful and thanks the teammates who push her to be better every day, her coaches, her family and friends.
Does handing out this gong make her feel old? “No.”
Great answer. I reckon Lopez will take this one.
Now Lucy Tough Bronze joins us to present the women’s award, the nominees being:
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Vicky Lopez (Spain and Barcelona)
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Veerle Buurman (Netherlands and Chelsea)
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Felicia Schroder (Sweden and Hacken/Real Madrid)
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Clara Serrajordi (Spain and Barcelona)
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Lily Yohannes (USA and OL Lyonnes)
I too would’ve voted for Pau Cubarsi because, as per Matthew Elliot’s idea, this award I’d for sure allow players to win only once.
Lamine Yamal of Barcelona and Spain wins the men’s young talent of the year award for the third year in a row
He’s grateful to win the award but feels his teammate, Pau Cubarsi, should be collecting this award. He thanks his teammates at club and international level.
Here comes Andriy Shevchenko, 2004 winner, to present the award, and he says the technology in the game has changed but one thing will never change: talent gives you the opportunity, but hard work, discipline and self-belief are essential.
There’ll be a special 70th anniversary award for social activism, we’re told, then it’s off to the young talent award. The men’s nominees are:
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Kerim Alajbegovic (Bosnia & Herzegovina and RB Salzbug/Juventus)
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Ayyoub Bouaddi (Morocco and Lille/Manchester City)
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Pau Cubarsi (Spain and Barcelona)
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Yan Diomande (Ivory Coast and RB Leipzig/ eal Madrid)
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Lennart Karl (Germany and Bayern Munich)
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Eli Junior Kroupi (France and Bournemouth)
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Lamine Yamal (Spain and Barcelona)
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Johan Manzambi (Switzerland and Freiburg/Aston Villa)
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Ibrahim Maza (Algeria and Bayer Leverkusen)
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Warren Zaire-Emery (France and Paris Saint-Germain)
“This, and Indeed many individual awards, can be easily fixed by making past winners ineligible,” writes Matthew Elliott. “Applying this rule to the Ballon d’Or would have rewarded not only Sneijder and Ribery, but Iniesta, Neymar, probably Luis Suarez, and plenty of others who deserve a spot on the podium.”
You had me until Luis Suarez, but yup, Wisden do this with their cricketers of the year and it works well. Anyroad up, Kate Scott and Thierry Henry have taken to the stage, so it’s on with the show.
OK, we’re ready go, so of course Jorja Smith is singing Blue Lights. On which point, Burna Boy is in attendance, though I’m not sure if he’s performing.
Bunny Shaw is in the house, and if it’s not her year this year, it might well be some time in the future. She might be the most natural goalscorer in the women’s game and says being nominated is a “wonderful feeling”, reward for all her hard work.
“You quote Josh Goldblatt,” begins Craig Reeves. “‘How many of these candidates actually make you smile for the quality of their football and skills?’” wonders Josh Goldblatt. “‘Maybe Lamine, but the last entertainer surely was Ronaldinho, 2005 winner.’”
“Why does it feel like these days most ‘football fans’ don’t actually like football? If you’re not entertained by Harry Kane’s quality, I’m afraid you’re watching the wrong sport. Maybe try basketball? (And I’m an Arsenal fan, so there’s no bias here!)“
I don’t think the point is that Kane isn’t entertaining, but he’s not an entertainer, per se, but an accumulator. Similarly, post-2006-07, Cristiano Ronaldo changed from entertainer to accumulator, but he was still entertaining thereafter.
The London traffic means the ceremony has been pushed back to an 8.45pm start. Already, I’m getting strong Champions League draw vibes.
Caroline Graham Hansen also hasn’t prepared a speech, which is probably OK, brilliant though she is. I wonder, though, if we might be seeing her again next term, now Alexia has left Barca and there’s more room for her to be the star.
I’d give him the award again just for this.
Lamine Yamal has arrived, and as he walks through the vestibule there’s a minor scuffle with a cameraman and security. I think we’ll need a replay there, but doubt Dazn oblige us.
“So, ‘Denis Law was a penalty-box player …’” begins Geoiff Wignall. “What? He was a No 10 who played (superbly) as a striker for the sake of the team and not so much a box to box player as byline to byline. Not many could pass the ball around Pat Jennings from 18+ yards.
Likewise Greaves was also a 10 – and his international goals to games ratio is still better than Kane’s, without such a percentage of penalties or games against minnows. I don’t seek to disparage Kane, fine player that he is (if prone to gamesmanship), just to set the record a little straighter.”
Denis Law a no 10? I’ve never heard such thing before. Here, in Richard Williams’ obituary, we see the words “penalty area” in both the first two paragraphs.
Between 1962-63 and 68-69, he scored 29, 46, 39, 24, 25, 10 and 30 goals. That is never a no 10.
Here’s Jonathan wilson on Greaves the no 9.
Just realised my wife will be home in a couple of hours; yup, I’ve got to bite the bullet, sin against my soul, and put the heating back on.
What Kane said about how his teammates talk about him – what a feeling that must be. During the World Cup, it was moving to hear the England players discuss his dedication, seriousness and intensity in every single training session, and their desire to learn from him; no one has done more to maximise their talent.
Kane says he’s a bit nervous as unlike a match it’s out of his control. He’s hoping it goes his way, and has seen some friends and family. Told there’s not much more he could’ve done, he says there’s always more, and had he converted one of the Champions League and World Cup semis to silverware, he’d have taken it for sure. He backs himself as a finisher and as a creator, so with fast players around him and the way Bayern play, he’s able to drop deeper while still scoring the goals. He loves the way his teammates talk about him and hopes he wins tonight.
“I like to ask who would you pay the most to watch, rather than who is the best,” emails Fin, a bit of a follow-on from the email Josh sent regards Ronaldinho. Out of the current players my top three would be Yamal, Kvaratskhelia and Olise.”
They are probably our foremost artists, though I also love Pedri for that. As it goes, Dembélé was once in that category, then became a more serious accumulator.
Ooooh yeah, Ousmane Dembélé takes the lead in the rig-out stakes, so cool he makes sunglasses indoors look banging. Again, photo to follow.
Harry Kane arrives, hair McDonald’s arching as it does. In an amazing turn-up for the books, his suit isn’t a slick as Mbappé’s or even close to it – photo to follow.
“Joining a long line of people who say this popularity contest, leaked to you by Fabrizio, is dead to them after an injustice,” laments Jakob Mathiszig-Lee. “Nedved over Henry in 03 for me, but there’s plenty of others, Sneijder in 10 and Lewandowski in 20 and 21.”
I agree, those Messi/Ronaldo years were suboptimal. Essentially, Nedved got it for one performance, Juve v Real Madrid in the Champions League – though I actually think Ruud van Nistelrooy would’ve won the domestic awards were the voting done later in the season.
Mbappe is in the house, looking pretty suave. Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall are surely due shortly.
“How many of these candidates actually make you smile for the quality of their football and skills?” wonders Josh Goldblatt. “Maybe Lamine, but the last entertainer surely was Ronaldinho, 2005 winner.”
You set them up and I’ll stick them away: here’s a piece about the wonder of O Bruxo.
Otherwse, I think Olise is that type of player though not, of course that type of quality – perhaps yet – likewise Mbappé. I mean look at this from last week.
“Re ‘he’s the best finisher from 12-22 yards I’ve ever seen,’” begins Geoff Wignall. “I get that you’re too young to have seen Greaves, Eusebio, Best, Law or Cruyff – let alone Puskas, whom I also never saw – but are you really claiming he’s better from that range than Messi? ‘Cause he ain’t.”
I’m too young to have seen them in the flesh, but Denis Law was a penalty-box player, likewise Greaves. Best’s goalscoring is underappreciated – from 64-65 to 71-72, he scored 14, 17, 10, 32, 22, 23, 22, 27 – but he wasn’t as deadly from the edge of the box as Kane and I don’t think Messi was either. He is as good with curlers, but not the low-backlift laces.
Luis de la Fuente tells Dazn he’d like to manage in the Premier League eventually, which is an interesting one – the job is very different to the one he’s currently killing, and building a team to play in his style would not be at all easy.
“Your rationale for Kane not winning is just weird,” reckons Emmanuel Dairo. “Lamine had perhaps the worst World Cup of a certified superstar outside maybe post-elite Ronaldo in 2022. I don’t think it’s up for debate that Kane performed better in USA than him overall. As for playing for the best team argument, so did Yamal, and I’d go as far as saying Kane being a space-vacating cenre-forward was a big part of why someone like Michael Olise blossomed. Finally, for all Mbappe’s brilliance, his efforts ultimately led to nothing for club or country, unlike Kane.”
Olise was brilliant at Palace, which is why Bayern bought him and also brilliant for France – his performance against Senegal was better than any Kane delivered at the World Cup.
On Lamine, I think his work in La Liga is worth more than Kane’s in the Bundesliga, and he delivered in the World Cup semi, when, I’m afraid, Kane shrunk and, on Mbappe, I can’t be differentiating Kane from him by virtue of a title won with Bayern, given they’d managed 11 in a row before he arrived and Mbappe. brilliant at the World Cup, has the explosive ability that I want in my personal concepption of what a centre-forward should be.
“The Ballon d’Or is dead to me,” writes Marek Wojenski. “In the last decade or two it’s been a public relations contest but what finally did it was the cancellation of the award in 2020.
Lewandowski should have won it. Yes, as a Poland fan, I am bitter as we’re not likely to have another Polish candidate in my lifetime.”
I don’t know about that – we’ve had two in mine, the other being Zibi Boniek, and three since 1974, Kazimierz Deyna the missing man.
R9, we learn, will be presenting the men’s award. He won it in 1997, when there was no doubt whatsoever as to who the best player in the world was. To this day, I’ve seen no one so shockingly brilliant, a superhuman playing an entirely different sport to the rest. Here’s a piece on what made him so special.
I’m delighted to see Barbra Banda on the shortlist. Selfishly, I’d love her to come to the WSL – I think she’d be an incredible fit. Oh, and Putellas who has joined us in the UK, is in the house; she prepared an outfit but hasn’t prepared a speech. No matter, she owns some of the most articulate feet in the world.
I can’t for the life of me get on board with the line we’re now hearing: had Argentina somehow snaffled the World Cup, the award would have to be Messi’s. He’s still got plenty, of course, but a stuffy set-piece goal, say, or a 0-0 and penalty triumph wouldn’t have somehow made him the best in the world. It’s not a lifetime achievement award.
Talking of UK winners, it’s absolutely insane to think that, in 1968, three winners – Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best – played in the same Manchester United team. Now, though, despite the money in the Premier League and with the exception of Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes, the best attackers are found in La Liga and Ligue 1. That looks likely to change only in the next generation and only if English clubs develop their own elite talent
DAZN have just interviewed Michael Owen, since the sad death of Kevin Keegan the only surviving British winner. If I’m honest, he did pretty well to get that, which isn’t to decry his efforts – in Rome and Cardiff especially – but the best player in the world? Not for me, Clive.
There appears to have been a leak: on the Ballon d’Or website, there’ve been articles lauding Kane, Mbappé and Lamine. That won’t surprise anyone, but of course the order is what really matters.
“Team PSG, Manager Luis Enrique, Ballon D’Or Harry Kane,” reckons Krishnamoorthy V. “Have Real Madrid decided to be present this year?”
Isn’t is sweet of them?
Lamine will, we have to assume, win the young player away for the third time on the spin. I think we can confidently say he was the best 16-year-old we’ve ever seen though, once he turned 17, Pelé had him beat.
Why, then, am I not going for Kane, seeing as you don’t ask. It’s a strange one given he’s the best finisher from 12-22 yards I’ve ever seen, and has reinvented his position, a prolific goalscorer but also a playmaker. However throughout his career, he’s not quite done it in the biggest games, and I just can’t anoint him the planet’s best for this season when he couldn’t get it done in the closing stages of either World Cup or Champions League – again. Killing the Bundesliga in by far its best team, even without him, and a brace against DR Congo, just isn’t enough, and ultimately, that’s why I’m going for Lamine – though, if you asked me who I think the best player in the world is, I’d probably say Mbappé, just.
So who should win? In the women’s competition, I’m going for the wondrous Alexia Putellas; I’m not sure many will argue to the contrary.
The men’s competition is a harder choice. I can’t decide between Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, but I’m going for Lamine because he inspired Barcelona to the title and was easily the better of the two in the World Cup semi; in third, I’d go for Michael Olise, but I’m sure Harry Kane will be on the podium.
Should anyone fancy learning even more about Sir Stan, here’s a piece about him and the nature of heroism.
So who’s going to win? Well, first things first: the ceremony is being held in London to honour Stanley Matthews, who won the debut award 70 years ago.
Preamble
One of the things we love about football is that, in a fickle world of questions, it offers us definitive answers. The best team in the league is the team which wins the league; in order to be certain who deserves to win a match, we’ve devised a handy metric to tell us, known as the score; and should we ever be unsure as to what silly haircut we should have next, what histrionic we should practise, or how best to flout authority, the beautiful game will surely supply us with an answer.
The Ballon d’Or, though, is a different state of affairs. Though the game offers us no parameters for judgment, it being a team sport, often it’s obvious which players have been the world’s best over a season. On other occasions, though, it’s a matter of criteria and opinion, which is where we find ourselves this evening.
But this term, we’ve no outstanding candidate on either men’s or women’s side, which allows us to enjoy plenty of conjecture and opinion, deconstructing this wonderful thing of ours to examine its constituent parts. Are we honouring the best or the most effective? Should we be looking for reliability or inspiration, impact or output, consistent excellence or big-game decisiveness? The next few hours will tell us what one journalist from each of the top 100 countries in the Fifa rankings think but, something else we love about football is that whenever decision is made and whatever it is, there’ll always be people desperate to tell those responsible why they’re wrong. Let’s do it!
Showtime: 7pm GMT
