List of 30 winners of the first Ballon d'Or Even if Ronaldo is there, why Messi is not, explains 'France Football

List of 30 winners of the first Ballon d'Or Even if Ronaldo is there, why Messi is not, explains 'France Football

Even if there is Ronaldo, why is there no Messi

This is the tone of Lionel Messi's fans on social media. Messi did not make it to the shortlist of 30 nominees for the Ballon d'Or, the award given by French magazine France Football. But there is his fierce rival in the football field, Cristiano Ronaldo. Why any other logic?When these questions are raging on social media, the magazine explained this decision.

Neymar, Messi's teammate at PSG, also did not make it to the Ballon d'Or shortlist. However, Messi's exclusion is being discussed more. Messi scored 11 goals in 34 matches for PSG last season in all competitions. It is understood that the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner did not perform as expected in his first season at PSG. This list is prepared based on last season's performance. And this is the first time since 2005 that Messi has not been shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or.

French newspaper Lequip explained that Messi was left out of the magazine "France Football", which has published the Ballon d'Or award since 1956. A question-and-answer session was held in the press and the magazine's deputy editor-in-chief, Emmanuel Bouan, answered questions on behalf of France Football. Regarding Messi's omission, he explained, 'Messi has been placed (on the list) 15 times in a row since 2006, won the Ballon d'Or seven times and has won so many titles that inevitably his name comes up when the final decision is made. Messi was also in the discussion during the preparation of this list of 30 people. But the new standard set for the Ballon d'Or was not in favor of Messi; Gone is the consideration of a player's entire career, with the new model considering a season rather than a full year, which is why winning the Copa America on July 11, 2021 is not taken into account.

Emmanuel Bouan added his performance in his first season at PSG to the argument given by France Football, "And it must be admitted, his first season at PSG was very bad, judging by the statistics and the beauty of watching (the game)."

According to rules revised last year at the Ballon d'Or, individual performances will be considered first to judge the best player. Team performance will come later. As such, even though Messi won the league last season, his individual performance was not good.

Bowen also explained the inclusion of Manchester United's Portuguese star Ronaldo in the shortlist. There is no Messi, but in the midst of the uproar about how Ronaldo got the place, Bowen claims, 'The statistics say the exact opposite.' That is, the statistics are in favor of Ronaldo, Bowen claims. His argument, 'Ronaldo scored the highest number of goals for the national team this season (117). Ronaldo was also great in the Champions League group stage, Manchester United got 7 points from his 4 goals. Scored 18 goals including two hat-tricks in the Premier League. In all, 32 goals in 49 matches may not be his best season, but it is enough to be in the list of the best 30 players in the world.

The Ballon d'Or was previously awarded based on the year's performance—considering January to December. That is, halves of two seasons were considered, not a whole season. But from now on, the rule is to take into account the performance of an entire season—that is, from August to July.

For example, this World Cup will be held in November. Had the previous rules been in place, World Cup performances would have been considered for this year's Ballon d'Or. But considering the season, Qatar's World Cup performance will be considered during the selection process for the 2023 Ballon d'Or. Since the game will be played in November-December, it will naturally be delayed in the 2022-23 season. The shortlist for this year's Ballon d'Or is based on the players' performance over a season from August last year to July this year.

And this is what has knocked Messi off the Ballon d'Or shortlist. Messi won the Copa America for Argentina in July last year. Last season, he was eliminated from the last sixteen of the Champions League. Li Ante also did not play well for PSG. He scored only 6 goals in 26 matches in the league.

This year's Ballon d'Or award will be given on October 17 in Paris.