FIFA Ballon d'Or: How much does it truly matter?

The Fifa Ballon D’Or shall be awarded shortly, and the world waits with baited breath. Everyone will be on tenterhooks for several different reasons. Firstly, will Cristiano Ronaldo grace Zurich with an appearance? Should he show up, what hair cut will he be sporting? Sepp Blatter in particular will be interested on that one.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be particularly keen to secure another Ballon D’Or. Not just to cement or build his legacy. There’s also the small matter, of filling up the museum that he recently opened dedicated to himself. Now that humility has gone out the window, the least he should strive for is to win enough accolades to merit a museum.

For once, all his team mates and his club are backing him for the award. One guesses, if that were not the case, the Portuguese captain would be fairly ‘sad’ and only a certain deity (Ronaldo) would be aware of where his future lay.

Michel Platini will be desperate to see fellow compatriot Franck Ribery lift the ‘coveted’ trophy for the first time, to break the Messi-Ronaldo duopoly (at least Ronaldo fans would like to believe it’s a duopoly) of the recent past. Ribery seems to think that this is his moment and has voiced his displeasure (see Robben and Sakho) at teammates insinuating that one of his rivals should receive the honour.

Nominees try to nonchalantly, state that they do not care who succeeds, yet when team mates or associates do not vote for them, all of a sudden their ‘feelings’ are hurt. Clearly this title is as much a tool to placate their egos as it is an evaluation of their achievements on the pitch.

Of course, Lionel Messi is also in contention but he has enough of these trophies to fill up a couple of museums. One wonders how Cristiano feels about that.

Everyone has an opinion, as to who should prevail and everyone has their allegiances. Right from the greats like Franz Beckenbauer, to the crazy racist message board posters online, everyone has had their voice heard. It does not matter, if their opinion’s relevant but everyone has a reason as to why their guy should win. But what exactly is their ‘guy’ winning?

So much animosity and passion about who should be awarded the trophy this time around, and despite all this agitation does anyone really know what they’re debating about? Does anyone really have a clue about what this award represents?  Does anyone know what the criterion is to win this award? Is it the best individual player in the calendar year? Is it the player who has won the most trophies? Does it almost always have to be the best offensive player? For instance, how does one even indisputably distinguish between the impact of a top quality centre half and a top drawer player on the wings? Does anyone even care?

Moreover, does this award somehow validate one’s career? If one were to subscribe to that belief, then the achievements of the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paolo Maldini, Xavi, Raul, et al pale in comparison to Michael Owen.

But no one truly is bothered by what the Ballon D’Or represents. All they want is for their candidate to win. In a team sport, this trophy has somehow usurped every other prize in the game, despite its ambiguous nature.Nevertheless, let us forget about these trivial matters such as nature, purpose, criteria, etc. and witness how one of the world’s biggest popularity contests unravels. Only ‘God’ knows how this one is going to turn out.