The FIFA Ballon d’Or – awarded to the world’s best footballer – has largely been a straight fight between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo since its inception.
But this year, the form of Messi’s club team mates Neymar and Luis Suarez means the top three could and perhaps should all be Barcelona players.
The Messi-Suarez-Neymar trio has been in scintillating form in the last 12 months and won nearly every competition available to them. Indeed, Barcelona’s front three has scored more goals combined (120) than Real Madrid’s entire team (106) in 2015 – Messi leads the way with 42 goals, while Suarez and Neymar both have 39.
The trio is quickly becoming arguably the greatest club strikeforce of all time, rivalling the likes of Real Madrid’s 1950s forward line of Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo di Stefano and Francisco Gento (who is the only player to have won six European Cup finals), Manchester United’s 1960s attack of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, Real Madrid’s Ronaldo, Raul and Zinedine Zidane trio in 2003, and Milan’s lethal hit force of Kaka, Pippo Inzaghi and Andrei Shevchenko last decade.
Brief history of the Ballon d’Or
The Ballon d’Or was introduced by FIFA in 2010 as the FIFA World Player of the Year and France Football’s Ballon d’Or awards merged and has only ever been won by two players.
The inaugural Ballon d’Or was, unsurprisingly, won by Lionel Messi, followed by his fellow Barca players Andreas Iniesta – who scored Spain’s World Cup-winning goal that year – and Xavi Hernandez in the second and third respectively.
Messi went on to win the next two Ballon d’Or crowns, with Cristiano Ronaldo claiming second place both times, followed by a third-placed finish each for Xavi in 2011 and Iniesta in 2012.
But Messi has not won the award since that 2012 victory, with his nemesis Ronaldo the double Ballon d’Or winner in 2013 and 2014. Messi of course came in second place both of those years, while the rise of German football was recognised by third-placed positions for Franck Ribery for his role in Bayern Munich’s Champions League winning team in 2013, and Manuel Neuer for his starring role in Germany’s World Cup victory last year.
But 2015’s award, which will be announced on January 11th, could have a very different look to it.
The case against Ronaldo
It is undeniable that Cristiano Ronaldo was in truly scintillating form at the end of the 2014-15 campaign. The Portuguese scored 29 goals in 30 matches between January and May, which included scoring five in one match against Granada.
However, his form has waivered this season despite scoring 13 goals in 16 appearances. That record includes a five-goal haul and a hat-trick in consecutive matches against Espanyol and Shakhtar Donetsk back in September. Those two games aside, Ronaldo has only scored five goals in 12 matches and has only scored in six of his 16 appearances this season – he has five goals in 13 matches since that Shakhtar match on 15 September.
In terms of club form, Real Madrid have won nothing compared to Barca’s treble last season and European Super Cup so far this campaign.
The case for Neymar and Suarez
Barca fans feared the worst when Messi faced a two-month layout back in September, but in his absence the duo of Neymar and Suarez has stepped up and played superbly. In the 11 games Messi has missed, Neymar and Suarez have scored 23 goals between them – which is three quarters of Barca’s total of 31 goals in that period.
Suarez’s double over Roma last night means he has now scored 14 goals in his last 12 appearances in all competitions and 17 for the season. Meanwhile, Neymar has scored 14 goals in 18 games this season, including six in his last seven appearances.
A massive win for @FCBarcelona today, beating @Roma 6-1 in their #UCL clash. All the goals are here. https://t.co/CekdAb6N5r
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_AUS) November 24, 2015
Their recent form means at least one of them will surely make the top three of the Ballon d’Or this season. There is also an argument for both making the top three behind Messi – who will surely reclaim his crown again – both because of how well they are playing and the number of trophies they have won.
Other Ballon d’Or contenders
Of course, the Ballon d’Or is not only about Ronaldo and the Barca boys. There are 23 names on the FIFA shortlist for the award.
Ronaldo’s Madrid teammates Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos join him, while Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic and – perhaps surprisingly – Javier Mascherano, also make the list from Barcelona. Interestingly, Barca players make up more than a quarter of the shortlist while La Liga’s big two make up half the 23-man shortlist.
Bayern Munich are well represented by Thomas Muller, Arjan Robben, Robert Lewandowski, Arturo Vidal and last year’s third-placed man Neuer. The English Premier League has five candidates, with Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne and the rather strange selection of Yaya Toure from Manchester City, Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Eden Hazard, who is the sole selection from champions Chelsea.
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Italy’s Serie A has one nomination to the shortlist in Juventus’ Paul Pogba, as does the French Ligue 1 in the form of Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The slightly more bizarre longlist
Before drawing up the current shortlist, FIFA scribbled up a rather haphazard longlist of contenders for the Ballon d’Or crown. In addition to all the usual suspects, this list included the likes of former Mainz and now Leicester City striker Shinji Okazaki, Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony – who has been second fiddle to Aguero for most of the year – and now LA Galaxy man Giovani dos Santos.
There were even more obscure nominations for Queens Park Rangers midfielder Massimo Luongo, ex-Everton loanee Christian Atsu, PSV’s Andres Guardado, the relatively unknown River Plate winger Carlos Sanchez, and Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina.
What do you think – should Neymar and Suarez displace Ronaldo? And who would be your FIFA Ballon d’Or top three?
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