Seriously Football | From Ballon D’Or to Ballon D’oh

It sounds like ice cream, but the Ballon D’Or is actually football’s highest individual accolade - awarded each year to the game’s best, sorry no, most successful, sorry no, most popular, sorry no…..look it's basically an award for Messi and Ronaldo.

‍

The two of them have won every year since 2009. BUT in 2019 an administrative error meant Luca Modric got the trophy by mistake - and after that, the competition organizers were NEVER going to mess up again. 

Some conspiracy theorists have even hypothesized that the covid-19 viruswas created by the Ballon D’Or last year, when Robert Lewandowski’s goal-scoring form made him a shoe-in for the award.

The Bayern Munich striker was top scorer in the Bundesliga, and scored 15 times in the Champions League, as Bayern won the treble in 2020.

But the whole ‘virus’ thing meant the Ballon D’Or had to be called off entirely - and I get it right? I mean, you couldn't possibly have an online/no-in-person-attendance version of an awards ceremony...like they did for the Oscars, Emmys and MTV Awards.

So the Competition dodged a bullet in 2020, but then Lewandowski came out all guns blazing in 2021 as well. The German has already racked up 51 goals in 40 games. And on top of that, Jorginho is yet another stand out contender after winning the Champions League with Chelsea, AND the Euros with Italy.

So what to do? Cancel the Ballon D’Or again? Fake a power failure or natural catastrophe on the night? Rename it ‘The Messi And/Or Ronaldo Award’ and hope no one notices? 

Nope - they just created a brand new ‘Striker of the Year’ accolade minutes before the ceremony began, so Messi could scoop his 7th Ballon D’or and Lewandowski could get a selfie with some meaningless silverware. 

So don't be surprised in 2022 if we see some record-breaking chump being handed a brand new ‘The-Player-Who-Should-Actually-Have-Won-It-This-Year-Award’, while Messi and/or Ronaldo walk away with the Ballon D’Or again.