While Lionel Messi is tipped to win an eighth Ballon d’Or, the coronation of his rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, ten years ago, was accompanied by very heated controversy.
Barring a huge surprise, Lionel Messi is preparing to win his eighth Ballon d’Or. Consequence of Argentina’s world title. Because for the rest, the season of the native of Rosario with PSG is far from the standards of a Golden Ball, also far from that delivered by Erling Haaland with Manchester City. Because his match goals were a big part of the Citizens’ spectacular hat-trick.
Lionel Messi will not be the first Ballon d’Or to spark controversy. The successes of Mathias Sammer in 1996 and Michael Owen were very contested in their time. And the Argentinian’s last victories, in 2019 and 2021, respectively to the detriment of Virgil van Dijk and Robert Lewandowski, were also surrounded by a scent of scandal. But in this matter, it was Cristiano Ronaldo’s victory in 2013 and Franck Ribéry’s third place which aroused the greatest indignation.
The French midfielder had indeed reigned supreme over the season, leading Bayern Munich to a resounding treble. However, his 25 goals and 18 assists are not enough in the face of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 55 goals or Lionel Messi’s 38 and especially in the face of the aura of the two men as well as the science of Real to make his players triumph. “ More than a disappointment, it is the biggest injustice of my career. Not just for me, for a lot of people. I was above and finished third. I had nothing to envy that year of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi”he confided on this subject in 2019. “ It’s like a theft”, he dared on Canal+, adding: “ I should have won it. They delayed the allocation of votes, something strange happened. This seemed like a political decision to me. »
FIFA decided to extend the vote from November 15 to 29. A decision which would inevitably benefit the Portuguese to the detriment of the French. It made it possible to include the hat-trick scored by CR7 in the return play-off at the 2014 World Cup against Sweden while Franck Ribéry had just been injured.
A few years later, the controversy would flare up again when the former captain of the Equatorial Guinea national team Juvenal Edjogo affirmed that the details of the votes published by FIFA did not reflect his choice. He thus assured that he had voted in favor of Didier Drogba and Andrés Iniesta but that it was nevertheless the names of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who appeared under his name.
