Thomas Seneke, Media 365: Posted on Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 9:43 pm.
We knew that Lionel Messi, absent from the shortlist at the age of 35, would fall out of the top 5 at the Ballon d’Or for the first time since 2006. Cristiano Ronaldo, aged 37, did a little better. Back to the era of overwhelming domination.
2007-2010
Behind Kaka, the last Golden Ball other than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo for 11 years, the Portuguese and the Argentine actually completed the podium in 2007. The Portuguese, then in Manchester, then overtook the Argentine in 2008, who reversed the roles. in 2009. Then in 2010, the Madridista was forced to finish sixth, the year of the World Cup where Portugal missed out on eighth and Argentina in the quarter-finals. But the (special?) ‘Manita’ year Barcelona did in November.
2011-2014
The Golden Ball passed definitively under the auspices of FIFA, with votes now distributed evenly among players, coaches and journalists. And the dominance is quite clear between the absolute leaders Barcelona and Real Madrid: Lionel Messi ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2011 and 2012, then Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of Lionel Messi in 2013 and 2014..
2015 – 2018
The identity of the first two does not change in the last FIFA Ballon d’Or, nor for the next two when it returns to its original sequence. Lionel Messi finished fifth in 2015, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to his prime after two back-to-back successes in 2016 and 2017, Luka Modric was the first to break dominance in 2018, ahead of teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. Lionel Messi should finish fifth, off the podium for the first time since 2006.
2019 – 2022
Three years ago, Lionel Messi was crowned for the sixth time and Cristiano Ronaldo for the third time. In 2020, the Golden Ball was not awarded, but the two friends would have taken at least the top five (both were on the podium for the Best FIFA award). Still holding the title last year, it was up to Cristiano Ronaldo, sixth, to leave the podium for the first time since 2010. Before he finished 20th on Monday, Lionel Messi wasn’t even named.
