As Cristiano Ronaldo was the odds-on favourite to win the Ballon d’or award this year, as a result of his stunning performances in the Champions League and during the 2016 European champions.
However, after the Euros, Ronaldo has struggled to discover his best form putting in some sterile performance for the All Whites.
He had a remarkable first half to this calendar year by winning two important trophies and scoring plenty of goals along the way.
Now, according to report emanating from Catalan daily Diario Gol, the prestigious award is already decided with Barcelona star Lionel Messi reportedly set to beat the former Manchester United for the individual award.
The report as well, went on claiming that the newly disbanded Ballon d’Or award which is said to be voted by a selected group of journalist chosen from France Football will go to the Argentinian while the FIFA Best Player of the Year award will most likely be won by the Portuguese international.
It was assumed that the Portuguese forward superb performance with successful seasons for his team both domestically and internationally would be sufficient to see him win the award, but if reports coming from Spanish outlet is anything to go by, Ronaldo great rival Lionel Messi is set to win the award again this year.
Football’s most prestigious individual award that was presented to the best footballer in the world every year, the FIFA Ballon d’Or, was created by the union of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and France Football’s Ballon d’Or award in 2010.
The FIFA World Player of the year, which was introduced in 1991, was awarded until 2009 with the winner decided by votes from national team coaches and captains from all of the association members.
However, since the Ballon d’Or award is not part of FIFA anymore, there are two award galas to look forward to with Ballon d’Or being conducted by France Football and FIFA awarding the “Best Player of the Year” awards.
This split means that the Ballon d’Or will once again be controlled by the French publication, and voting will be reserved exclusively for journalists in Europe, thereby returning to its initial format while the FIFA Best Player of the Year will be decided by votes from national team coaches, captains, players and fans.
Hypothetically speaking, if Ronaldo went on to win the FIFA Best Player of the year and Messi won the Ballon d’Or, fans will have to decide which award would have more credibility.