Remember the outrage when Lionel Messi was awarded the Golden Ball in December? French magazine France Football, which has been in charge of the prestigious award ceremony of Ballon D’Or, faced stark criticism after the Argentinean won the main prize ahead of Robert Lewandowski and Mohamed Salah last time out. They have made four changes to deal with the problem that should ensure that the award always goes to the most deserving hands.Water is wet, the world is round and Lionel Messi wins Ballon D’Or – that’s number seven for the ArgentineLewa hits out on Messi for his “empty words” at the Ballon d’Or ceremonyAlthough the award ceremonies will still be held late in the calendar year, only one full football season would be considered. For example, the next time someone wins Ballon D’Or, it won’t have anything to do with how they do in the World Cup later this year. If a player does extraordinarily well in Qatar, it would only help them impress France Football judges in late 2023.Secondly, as well as journalists involved in the voting, former Chelsea and Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba has been added to the process. Drogba will also be joined by two more jurors to compile a more structured list of nominees for both men’s and women’s awards.Saturday, 15.30: (7.00) Brighton (4.30) Liverpool (1.53)Thirdly, only the representatives of the first 100 countries in the FIFA rankings for the men’s award and the first 50 for the women’s will be “qualified” to vote. It would ensure that minnow nations won’t have a say in determining the best players. Apparently, judges from the 101st-best nation (currently Trinidad) or 103th-placed Kenya can’t tell good players from excellent ones. And that is supposed to be fair? OK, France Football, if you say so.Lastly, the criteria for deciding the winner have changed, as the award will consider a player’s individual performance and take into account collective performance, the “class” of a player, and their fair play record.Mendy: ‘Being an African did me a disservice for Ballon d’Or’Most importantly, a player’s reputation and performances in previous years will not be considered when voting for the winner. This one we can get firmly behind. Ballon D’Or shouldn’t be based on reputation or the things player had achieved in the past. It is awarded yearly and should only take a year of football into consideration.With all these changes, will the voting process be more just? We’ll tell you just before New Year!
