Big news with Modric winning and Messi not making top 5. In the womens, Ada Hederbeg won (insert patriotic comment about Kerr being robbed). Her stats are ridiculous scoring well over a goal a game for Lyon
Big news with Modric winning and Messi not making top 5. In the womens, Ada Hederbeg won (insert patriotic comment about Kerr being robbed). Her stats are ridiculous scoring well over a goal a game for Lyon
Yeah with women’s fitba we tend to ignore what goes on in Europe because all our players tend to do NWSL instead. Pretty stunned that Kerr should be behind Marta though.
The blokes thing… really Messi should probably have won it for all but maybe two out of the last 10 years. He’s been hamstrung by being so ludicrously good that people take him for granted.
International tournaments do weigh heavily though, and taking a country of 5 million to the WC final on top of winning the ECL makes it a fine year of achievement for Modric.
Not surprised about the result. If any of the Matildas harbour any ambition of winning the women’s Ballon D’Or, they really have to move to Europe now, as more resources are being thrown at the women’s game there and we all know big European clubs are so powerful and loaded with money.
Ronaldo deserved to win hands down. Absolute joke.
I’m waiting for Ronaldo to come out making some conspiracy theory up like he did when he got snubbed of FIFA The Best award.
I’ve been watching all of this Juventus games and he does so much off the ball that he doesn’t get credited for. Him and Messi are truely great players but I feel that FIFA are ready for their reign as the best to end. While Modric has a great year, I’m not sure if it was better than CR7’s.
His sisters already been on a rant about mafia money or something like that
Hederberg had 31 league goals in 20 and 14 in 8 continental. Her Lyon side scored 104goals and conceded only 5 as they won 21 of 22 games. This season they’ve scored 49 and conceded 3, winning 11 and drawing one of their twelve games. Kerr can’t really complain I thought the Ligue 1 was a pretty decent women’s league.
Thought it was a very strange decision. Ronaldo had a decent world cup, had a decent year in Spain and is destroying it in Italy
On another note, what the hell was Martin Solveig thinking, asking Ada Hederbeg to twerk after she won an award. Such a prick of a move, not only did he demean the award, he’s now taken more focus away from her winning the first female Balon D’Or and put it on his stupidity.
World Cup always counts big though and Modric achieved everything Ronaldo did club wise and took his team to the World Cup final. It’s not like Ronaldo lost to say Lukaku or Matt Simon.
As for the Hegerberg thing I think it’s best to keep talking about what won her the award because that’s what we should be talking about otherwise she’s just the woman that got asked to twerk not the one that spent a year scoring at almost two a game
Its an individual award though. You can make the argument that Gareth Bale won every trophy Ronaldo did, should Bale have been in the final 3 for the award? No. Modric won trophies for club and country but compare his goal and assist stats to Messi or Ronaldo, he’s not even close to their level. If you examine every other metric other than trophies won he’s clearly not as good. And even if you ignore stats, just watch them play, CR7 and Messi are the best two players on the planet and Modric isn’t even on their level.
Edit: Also I’ve never understood why people care so much about the World Cup. The standard is a lot lower than the Champions league and the top European leagues. To be honest its a bit of the mickey mouse tournament because there’s a huge amount of luck in winning it.
Comparing the goal output of a deep lying playmaker to forwards makes no sense. Midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers all make massive contributions and should all still be able to win the big honours- footballs a lot more than just a goal.
Modric won everything Ronaldo did yes but was also an absolutely critical element and heart beat of those teams. Without him controlling the tempo and dictating play, Ronaldo doesnt get all the chances he gets (and yeah this can play to lots of positions). And I really shouldnt be having the explain that the world cup is the pinnacle of football and being the key player in taking a small nation to the final was a huge personal achievement. Hes a very worthy winner.
Your argument looks good until you see Real Madrid with Ronaldo and then without. They’re awful without him and Modric hasn’t performed as well without CR7 either. Modric was critical to all his teams performances, particularly to Madrids, but Ronaldo wasn’t? lol. Madrid having one of their worst starts to a season in a long time, struggling to score, struggling to win had nothing to do with Ronaldo’s departure then? I highly doubt Real would be in the same situation if Modric left. Your argument about Modric being a critical element and heart beat of his teams falls down completely when you see the impact Ronaldo’s departure has had on Madrid. The fact your trying to claim that Modric has more of an impact on his teams performances is genuinely dishonest. Ronaldo has clearly more of an impact on his teams than Modric. And thats not just with goals and assists but with actual team results too. Your talking about one of the greatest of all time compared to a world class midfielder, not the same thing.
I agree that players from all over the pitch SHOULD be able to to win the Balon Dor however the question is are they deserving of the award? To claim that on an individual level Modric has been the best performer is not true. He’s been an important part of some winning teams but he’s been nowhere as individually brilliant as CR7, Messi etc. Just think how good a player would have to be to be on Messi and CR7’s individual level, Modric clearly wasn’t that player, he was good but not better than those two this year. Pretty sure he didn’t even get as many assists as CR7. He’s not a worthy winner, and the general public consensus is that Modric didn’t really deserve to win.
The world cup isn’t the pinnacle of football either. It might be the most popular and most well known. But anyone who actually watches enough football would know that the standard of football in international tournaments is pretty average. The Champions league is the actual pinnacle of football, the best teams, players and highest standard of football. Winning the champions league is a lot more impressive than winning the world cup, where you’re relying on a couple of qualification games, a few group games, a lucky draw and who happens to be from your nation. Even to qualify for the champions league is difficult, let alone win it. So much luck involved in winning the WC compared to the CL. So you can’t just claim “you dont need to explain that the world cup is the pinnacle of football” because it isn’t in terms of the actual standard of football.
World Cup is always poor as teams have less time to gel together and create proper strategies/tactics. That and teams generally play more cagey football and will be more content to defend rather than open up and attack.
Theres a bit of international football left but currently seems to be a Messi vs Van Dijk battle.
Messi does have 51 goals and 22 assists in 50 games across all competitions for the 2018/19 season and a La Liga title. Van Dijk has the stat of 64 games with someone not dribbling past him, part of the best EPL defence despite lacking a true CB partner, and the key player for the EPL runner up and Champions league winners.
FIFA just named the shortlist for best men’s player. Neymar and Griezman both ommitted. Can see it going to Van Dijk to tell you the truth. Especially if you take into account Champions League winner and second place in EPL with the highest ever points tally for a second placed team.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal)
Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona & Netherlands)
Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus & Netherlands)
Eden Hazard (Real Madrid & Belgium)
Harry Kane (Tottenham & England)
Sadio Mane (Liverpool & Senegal)
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain & France)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina)
Mohmed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool & Netherlands)
Is this the one thats fan voted?
Surely Van Dijk was the best last season. Should be him then Ronaldo then third could be anyone.
That’s the FIFA one which is determined by fans I think. So VVD will win it.
Balon Dor is a little harder to predict. Alisson should be in the discussion as well. Champions League and Copa America winner, golden glove in the EPL in a side that finished with 97 points. If a keeper cant win it after a season like that, it would be hard to see another keeper winning it ever.
If he doesn’t it’ll more come down to the fact that you had a few players that had amazing seasons, also Alisson has the added negative that, arguably, he would have had a worse season had VVD not been so awesome in front of him.