5 reasons why moving to Barcelona will make Philippe Coutinho a Ballon d'Or contender
The football world’s most prestigious award for an individual player, the Ballon d’Or has been the primary way to decide the world’s best player in a year since 2007, when the award became open for any player in the world to win.
Unsurprisingly, since 2008, the award has been absolutely dominated by two men – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. No other player has broken their monopoly since, but given that monopoly has lasted ten years now, it could be about to change.
One player who might have a good chance of breaking that domination is Philippe Coutinho. And his recent move to Barcelona might help him tremendously in his quest for the Ballon d’Or. Here are five reasons why.
#5 The Ballon d’Or dominance of Barca
While Coutinho used to ply his trade at one of England’s biggest clubs – and Europe’s most successful too – in Liverpool, even the most hardcore fans of the Reds would probably admit that right now, they’re simply not as big a club as Barcelona.
That’s why Barca could afford to pay so much for Coutinho, after all. But that discrepancy doesn’t only exist in terms of size, it also exists in terms of history, especially when it comes to the Ballon d’Or.
Barcelona are top of the table when it comes to which club has produced the most Ballon d’Or winners – eleven times the Ballon d'Or winners have been produced by the Nou Camp, and while their closest rivals Real Madrid are in second place with ten wins, Liverpool are way down the list – only one player from Anfield has ever won the award and that was striker Michael Owen way back in 2001, after a season that saw Liverpool win three trophies.
Obviously Lionel Messi accounts for many of Barca’s Ballon d’Or wins – 5 of them in fact, more than any other player – but that still leaves five other Barca players who won the award.
The first was Luis Suarez – a namesake of the Uruguayan striker – back in 1960, and the most recent pre-Messi winner was Ronaldinho in 2005. Simply put, the Ballon d’Or is synonymous with Barcelona and hence Coutinho has a bigger chance of winning it now that he’s moved there.