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In the year 2010, Wesley Sneijder was the brains behind driving Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan to a historic treble — the Italian Serie A, Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League — the first in Italian history. Later that summer, his five goals took Netherlands to the World Cup finals for the third time before bowing out to Spain in the dying moments of the game.
Out of the world? Not really. When the Ballon D’Or shortlist was announced, it was Lionel Messi, quite surprisingly, who walked away with the priced golden ball. In previous years, especially those that clashed with the World Cup, international performances played a key role in players winning the honour. Let’s take the last 20 years as a case in point. In 1994, it was Brazil’s talisman, Romario who had won it, French maestro Zinedine Zidane was awarded as the winner in 1998 and in 2002, the winner was the Brazilian Ronaldo.
Performances in the footballing mega event was held in the highest esteem, regardless of the players’ performances for their respective clubs. Take Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro. When Italy won their fourth Jules Rimet trophy in 2006, the country was knee deep in corruption — a nosedive from the heady years and the effect of which is still reverberating in the Serie A. From Cannavaro’s prerogative, Juventus, his team at the time was relegated for playing a major role in the Calciopoli scandal; which saw them being relegated to the second division and defender himself endured a torrid time after switching to Real Madrid in the second half of that year.
Cannavaro still went on to win the award despite that. Sure, football has moved on from that. In Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, football has two monsters who make goalscoring records look like a poorly orchestrated practical joke. The El Clasico clashes between old rivals, Real Madrid and Barcelona have turned into mere blow by blow encounter between football’s two modern day icons, driven by the sheer force of their personalities.
2014, yet another World Cup year but the Portuguese probably had his best season till date. His stunning goalscoring run from July to November — arguably one of the best in recent times by any player deserves an award in itself. Germany’s Manuel Neuer though, didn’t fare badly either. Playing a pivotal role in his country’s triumph in the World Cup, he was also between the sticks when his club, Bayern Munich romped to the Bundesliga title by a record margin.
In the previous season, Ronaldo’s goals took Real Madrid to an unprecended 10th Champions League win in their history. His performance in the final though was below par and barely influenced the game before scoring an inconsequential fourth goal that added gloss to the scoreline.
One can’t take away anything from Ronaldo and Messi’s near inhuman feats but if the years gone by have proved anything, it is that playing a starring role in the World Cup put a player on a different pedestal compared to the rest. Neuer should have got the award here over Ronaldo and Sneijder or Xavi Hernandez, who was the brains behind Spain’s world Cup win in 2010, should have walked away with the prize in 2010. Messi and Ronaldo have won each of the awards since 2008 and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Previously, the best player award was bifurcated into a FIFA World Player and Ballon D’ Or awards before being merged into a single entity in 2010. Maybe a return to the old format can restore parity and give the World Cup heroes the respect they deserve.
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