The Ballon d’Or has become boring – and football only has itself to blame | OneFootball

The Ballon d'Or should be a celebration of the finest footballer on the planet. Instead, increasingly, it feels like another snoozefest election campaign.

The antics ramped up this week with the announcement of the 2026 shortlist, with 30 names in contention for football's biggest individual honour, set to be announced at the 70-year anniversary ceremony next month.

Already, we've seen contenders, clubs, managers, teammates, agents and fanbases build cases for their chosen one.

Kylian Mbappehas gone public in his belief that this should be his year, with Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho adding weight to his argument.

In Paris, Luis Enrique has questioned how the award could possibly not go to a Paris Saint-Germain player, given his side's successiveChampions League crowns.

Statistics get selected to suit arguments. Social media turns into rival campaign headquarters. Every trophy, milestone, game good or bad becomes evidence for one contender or an argument against another.

Last year,GQ reported on an Australian journalist who had been offered money by a marketing company to post positively on social media about eventual winner Ousmane Dembélé's candidacy; the company subsequently attributed the approach to a rogue intern. As excuses go, it's giving 'the dog ate my homework' credibility.

The same piece reported that journalists increasingly receive promotional material pushing particular players and statistics.

Has the game gone?

When did football awards become election campaigns?

Every autumn we're subjected to essentially: “Here's why OUR GUY deserves YOUR VOTE.”

Manager press conferences become endorsements. Teammates get asked who deserves it. Nominees are asked why they should win. Clubs post promotional graphics. Statistics are spread far and wide like pitch decks.

The Ballon d'Or, according to the award itself, should be judged onthree criteria, in order of importance: 1. Individual performance, decisiveness and impressive character. 2. Team performance and achievements. 3. Class and fair play.

So how has it come to this?

Real Madrid’s 2024 boycott showed how ridiculous it had become

In 2024, Real Madrid learned that their guy, Vinicius Junior, had been snubbed for the main prize. The Brazilian had a compelling case for the Ballon d'Or, having led his side's Champions League triumph, but voters had opted for Rodri, fresh from starring in Spain's Euro 2024 success.

The fallout was farcical.

Real Madrid, a club that somewhat shamelessly takes this award more seriously than it should, pulled their entire delegation from the awards ceremony. Carlo Ancelotti, named Coach of the Year, did not attend. None of the squad did either, despite winning Team of the Year. All because Vinicius was voted second in a subjective vote that somehow became an insult rather than an extraordinary achievement.

Two exceptional footballers had exceptional seasons. A group of journalists voted and preferred one of them. It should not have become the scandal it did.

The 2024 Ballon d'Or showed what happens when an individual award becomes so important to clubs, players and fanbases that not winning is interpreted as disrespect.

No club takes more pride in individual awards than Real Madrid, a side so proud of their Ballon d'Or heritage that they're happy to brazenly celebrate former players' successes atother teams.

When Real Madrid presented Cristiano Ronaldo's fourth Ballon d'Or in 2017, the Spanish side brought out Raymond Kopa, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo Nazario, and Michael Owen alongside him. All former Real Madrid players, all former Ballon d'Or winners.

But there's a catch.

Kopa aside, the others won their awards through no real achievement in a white shirt. Zidane [Juventus] and Owen [Liverpool] became Ballon d'Or winners three years before moving to Madrid, while Figo and Ronaldo moved to Spain in the summers of their successful years, after shining at major international tournaments.

For Real, that's neither here nor there. The Ballon d'Or is glitz and glamour, and no side wants more of that than Los Blancos.

The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has seen the Ballon d'Or become ammunition in legacy debates

There has never been an individual rivalry in a team sport quite like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Between 2008 and 2023, the pair won 13 of the 15 Ballon d'Or awards on offer.

Their dominance transformed the Ballon d'Or from an award recognising the standout player of a season into an annual debate over who was the best footballer in the world. Eventually, it evolved into point-scoring for which GOAT was, indeed,the GOAT.

As social media exploded and their individual brands became stratospheric, the number of golden balls belonging to each became ammunition for one fanatical fandom to attack the other. Ronaldo and Messi's era of dominance is over, but it has helped shape the culture around the award.

Great players don't need a Ballon d'Or to prove they're great

We're not for one second discrediting the Ballon d'Or or pretending the world's top talents shouldn't want it.

Winning it is an incredible achievement and the winners, rightfully, become part of football history. But Ballon d'Or success does not need to definitively define legacies.

None of Thierry Henry, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Paolo Maldini, Gianluigi Buffon and Robert Lewandowski won a Ballon d'Or. Each has a credible claim to being generational talents, if not some of the best to ever do it.

Similarly, a second Ballon d'Or for Rodri would not automatically elevate him above Sergio Busquets, or every midfielder of his ilk with fewer, or no, awards. Likewise, Kylian Mbappe does not need a Ballon d'Or to confirm his status as one of the game's greats.

The Ballon d'Or is big, but it might actually become more prestigious if football stopped desperately trying to prove how prestigious it is. It's time to cut the crap.