Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Golden Globe Awards

Unlike the previous model of holding an award ceremony after the top three are announced, after the separation, France Football announced the list of 30 people for the Ballon d'Or as early as September.

Manchester United, with last season's excellent results, a number of players have been included in the list, including Li Qingshan, Di Maria, Mata, Hummels, David De Gea, and this season's new signing Paul Pogba is also on the list.

However, among these 30 people, most of the players are accompanied, and the ones who really hope to win the Golden Ball Award are actually these three: Li Qingshan, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Messi.

Needless to say, last season's treble honor, as well as his explosive goal statistics at Manchester United, there is no suspense in making him included in this list - with his performance last season, Li Qingshan is considered the favorite candidate for the Ballon d'Or!

But Li Qingshan's breaking the monopoly of Messi and Ronaldo to win the Golden Ball is actually not a sure thing, and his two rivals, Ronaldo and Messi, also performed very well last season.

First of all, Cristiano Ronaldo, although Real Madrid stopped in the semi-finals of the Champions League, but in the subsequent European Championship, Ronaldo led Portugal to a historic championship without being favored, with this European Championship title, Ronaldo is enough to become the favorite to win the Ballon d'Or.

Although Messi is inferior in collective honor, in terms of personal data, Messi's data can also be called rebellious. Messi has scored 49 goals and provided 28 assists in all competitions so far in 2016, and so far in 2016-17, Messi has helped Barcelona score 14 goals in 11 appearances in all competitions, even two more than Real Madrid's (stats) BBC combination combined. Such a state, coupled with Messi's past prestige, also gave him enough capital to compete with Li Qingshan and Ronaldo for the Golden Ball.

However, the biggest hit now is still Li Qingshan.

Whether it is in championship honors or in personal data, Messi and Ronaldo have no advantage over Li Qingshan. Although there is a European Championship this year, the weight of the European Championship is actually not much different from that of the Champions League - of course, in terms of technical content, the Champions League final is now recognized as the highest level football competition in the world.

And after the separation of France Football and FIFA, many ambiguous factors in the selection of the Ballon d'Or were ruled out.

Regarding the merger of the Ballon d'Or and the International Footballer of the Year, this "marriage" was not reluctant from the beginning. Because of its longer history and more professional awards, the Ballon d'Or awarded by "French Football" has always been highly regarded by the industry, which makes the existence of FIFA's World Footballer of the Year a bit embarrassing. In particular, after the 2007 Ballon d'Or was relaxed from all over Europe to the whole world, the two major awards of the Ballon d'Or and FIFA's World Footballer of the Year award truly became homogeneous competition. Regardless of historical heritage, authority or influence, the world footballer of the year is at a disadvantage, so FIFA has the idea of spending money to merge the Ballon d'Or.

In 2010, at the initiative of former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, FIFA reached an agreement with France Football to combine the two awards into one. According to subsequent revelations from the French media, in order to get the opportunity to jointly award with "French football", FIFA under Blatter paid 15 million euros to his Amaury group. This merger has been interpreted by the outside world as a binding of politics and interests, and the original pure and authoritative Ballon d'Or has been directly swallowed up by FIFA. After swallowing the Golden Ball, FIFA achieved a monopoly on awards, and the judging criteria for awards became more unified. After the merger, France Football lost its dominance of the Ballon d'Or, and from the voting to the gala, they behaved more like a spectator, much to the unacceptable of the arrogant French. The various controversies that occur every year make it impossible for them to raise their heads.

In fact, back in 2011, the first year of the merger of the FIFA Footballer of the Year (i.e., World Footballer) and the Ballon d'Or (i.e., European Footballer). Shomière, then editor-in-chief of French Football magazine and chairman of the Ballon d'Or jury, predicted that the award would likely only last for five years. France Football and FIFA only signed a five-year contract, and both parties have the right to choose again after the contract ends, "Once we can't reach a tacit agreement during these five years of cooperation, then after five years, we reserve the possibility of ending the cooperation." Of course, this is only a possibility. Chaumiere's statement also reflects the dissatisfaction within France Football with the merger from the start.

Although Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the trophy six times, this coveted award by many players is increasingly surrounded by a disgraceful political atmosphere. Messi's award was jokingly called by fans that "godfather" Luo could win the Golden Ball, and it was inseparable from Blatter's love. The most unforgettable thing is that in the 2013 Golden Ball Awards, Blatter actually released the ultimate move to extend the voting time, and in the end, Ronaldo, who was empty of all four, relied on his efforts in the World Cup qualifiers to win the championship, and the five-time champion Ribery was defeated.

According to FIFA's selection rules, one can find a lot of ambiguous clauses, such as "the award will be judged on the overall performance of the players on and off the field". The performance on the field is easy to judge, but the performance off the field is the most vague, to put it bluntly, "Based on this factor alone, Suarez can't even enter the top 23." But could Messi's philanthropic work cover up the tax evasion scandal he was involved in? Or, just because Ronaldo has 31.6 million Twitter followers, does his 'Ice Bucket Challenge' have a greater impact than Neuer? ”

Blatter and his FIFA have been using the Ballon d'Or as an opportunity to promote themselves over the years. Their ambiguity in formulating rules, arbitrarily postponing voting times, and all kinds of loopholes in counting votes are all criticized. What is even more questionable is the excessive weight of the national team coach and captain, and the journalist voting initiated by "French football" has always been based on objectivity and neutrality as the highest criterion, and there has been no favoritism in past voting. And the coach and captain will inevitably vote for their relatives, and they are not allowed to vote for their own people, so they will vote for the club's acquaintances! Later, FIFA abolished the rule of "you can't vote for your own countrymen", so the favor vote became more and more prosperous.

The grievances have been long-standing, so when the contract ended, France Football decided to part ways with FIFA.

The resurrection of the Golden Globe Award will inevitably require some revision and innovation. As a result, France Football announced that the shortlist was 30 instead of 23, and the practice of waiting for the final winner to be announced in the top three was canceled. It is worth mentioning the range of judges, although they are back in the camp of journalists, but their list of journalists is no longer limited to Europe. Every FIFA member can have judges, but not all of the 208 member states or associations have expert journalists who meet the criteria for the Ballon d'Or, so they have only 180 judges.

On December 7, Gérard Ergernes, the current editor-in-chief of France Football, exclaimed, "The day has come for the beloved Ballon d'Or." ”

Although there are 30 players on the shortlist, it is known that there are only three who have hopes of winning the cup.

And "French football" did not hold an awards ceremony like FIFA, and on December 8, French football announced the final voting results.

Li Qingshan beat Ronaldo, got the votes of most media reporters, and won the Golden Ball!