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The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious football award given to the best player at the end of the year.
It was first awarded in 1956, and since then, every year, fans of one or another player freeze in anticipation of the announcement of the voting results.
This became especially relevant in the era of the total dominance of Messi and Ronaldo, when all the fans were divided into 2 camps.
The history of this prize is rich in interesting facts, which we will talk about.
10 Incomprehensible choice and composition of the “jury”
As such, there are no judges or juries at the Ballon d’Or, and the applicants are selected by a large group of specialists.
Many people are dissatisfied with the fact that these specialists are changing: either journalists vote, or fans, coaches and team captains. Because of this, the award is often accused of bias.
Another reason for dissatisfaction is related to the fact that the number of nominees sometimes include players who clearly do not deserve it.
Tighten up and try to remember such names: Frederic Kanute, Milon Baros, Papa Bouba Diop, Hatem Trabelsi. These names are not known to many people, since the players did not reach the top level, but they were still nominated for the ZM.
9. The impact of SM on wages
In the past, when the grass was greener and football wasn’t so much about money, the award merely emphasized a player’s skill level, but now it’s a guaranteed way to review wages.
So, in the contract of Kylian Mbappe there is even a special clause that if he receives the Golden Ball (which he has every chance of in the coming years), then he will automatically become the highest paid player.
8. Recognition of women
Despite the fact that women’s football as a professional sport began to take shape back in the 70s, there was no Golden Ball for them until last year.
Only in 2018, new rules were introduced and, along with Luka Modric, Ada Högerberg, a football player of the French Lyon and the Norwegian women’s team, received her prize.
The host of the ceremony invited the winner to dance right on the stage and asked a rather strange question – can she dance twerk.
Because of this, a flurry of criticism from the public and even male athletes fell upon him, so he had to apologize afterwards, although Ada herself was not offended. As soon as women appeared, a sex scandal was already ready, which, in fact, became the first in the history of ZM.
7. “Our” Winners
Only 3 players from the USSR received their “ball”: Lev Yashin in 1963, Oleg Blokhin in 1975 and Igor Belanov in 1986.
Yashin, by the way, is still the only goalkeeper in history who has become the best.
After the collapse of the Union, only the Ukrainian Andrei Shevchenko, who then shone in Milan, could win, and among the Russians, Andrei Arshavin, who took 6th place in the voting in 2008, could be noted. It is noteworthy that at that time he was a player of St. Petersburg “Zenith”.
6. Globalization
Until 1995, journalists could only vote for football players from Europe, which many were extremely unhappy with. Because of this rule, many legends like Pele or Maradona were left without trophies.
After the change in voting order, the first non-European player was John Weah from Liberia.
5. Special Awards
The previously mentioned Maradona and Pele received their portion of recognition from France Football, but after the end of their careers.
The Argentine was awarded a special “Golden Ball” in 1996, and in 2014 the same award was given to the Brazilian, who even burst into tears from an overabundance of emotions.
In 1999, France Football already celebrated Pele, calling him the best player of the 34th century. Then it was not journalists who voted for the winner, but XNUMX previous winners of the award (all except Lev Yashin, who was not alive).
Ten years earlier, Alfredo Di Stefano, a Real Madrid legend who played for Real Madrid in the 50s and 60s, won the Super Ballon d’Or.
4. Ours at the ceremony
The first person from the USSR who received the right to vote for the winner was the sports journalist Lev Filatov, and this happened in 1959 (3 years after the award was founded).
Later, Filatov took over as editor-in-chief of the Football. Hockey”, which for several decades remained the most popular sports publication.
3. Most awarded countries and clubs
Most awards were received by German football players – 7, of which 4 belong to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Franz Beckenbauer (they each have 2).
Next come the Netherlands and Portugal, which also have 7 each, but they were won by 3 players (Johan Cruyff and Cristiano Ronaldo single-handedly raised the statistics for their countries), while 5 players received the prize from the Germans.
As for the clubs, Barcelona is the undisputed leader with 11 awards that 6 players received at different times. As many as 5, as you know, on account of Lionel Messi alone.
2. The Ballon d’Or is actually brass.
The award is made not from noble metal, but from brass, covering it with a thin layer of gold.
However, because of this, production does not become cheap: the cost of one trophy is about 13 euros.
For many, this is perplexing, since the World Cup is made entirely of 18 carat gold, which is why it weighs as much as 5 kg.
1. Further fate of the award
What to do with the received ZM, the football player has the right to decide for himself, and most leave them as a keepsake, but some calmly part with him.
So, Ruud Gullit, who received it in 1987, later presented it to Nelson Mandela, whom he called his idol.
The Italian Omar Sivori put the trophy in a safe deposit box in 1967, fearing that someone might steal it.
Sir Bobby Charlton later donated his “ball” to the club’s museum, where it is still kept.
His teammate George Best acted differently and sold him at auction after the end of his career. He spent the proceeds not on charity, as is fashionable, but on paying off debts, which he had a lot of because of his riotous lifestyle.