The Sunday Mail
IT’S that time once again when I join other sports journalists who represent their fifa-registered nations in selecting this year’s fifa World Footballer of the Year.
The annual competition, which recognises the best footballer on the planet, is officially known as the fifa Ballon d’Or Award. Besides selecting the Number 1 player and his two runners-up, we also vote for the world’s Coach of the Year and his two runners-up and the Number 1 female footballer and her two runners-up.
The top three finalists in each category will be announced on 1 December with the eventual winners to be unveiled at a glittering banquet in Zurich on 12 January.
I also look forward to be there once again.
Here are the 23 nominees for the men’s players’ award: Gareth Bale,Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, James Rodrigues (Real Madrid); Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Neymar, Javier Mascherano (Barcelona); Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa (Chelsea); Angel di Maria (Manchester United) ; Yaya Toure (Manchester City); Mario Gotze, Philip Lahm, Emmanuel Nuer, Thomas Muller, Arjen Robben, Bastin Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich); Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint Germain); Paul Pogba (Juventus).
The most disappointing thing about this list — from an African perspective — is that there is only one player from this great continent: Cote d’Ivoire’s and Manchester City’s talisman, Yaya Toure.
Do you think that the fifa Selection Committee, which came up with all the nominations, was unfair in coming up with a single player from Africa?
I think that there should have been at least one other nominee from this great continent — Algeria’s 2014 World Cup attacking midfielder, Yacine Brahimi, who plays for Portuguese giants, FC Porto.
Brahimi put up an astonishing performance as the Desert Foxes stunned the world by stretching eventual winners, Germany, all the way before losing 1-3 in extra-time in that absorbing last 16 knockout round match.
Sadly, apart from Brahimi, there wasn’t any other African player whom I think should have been added onto the list.
The other four African representatives at Brazil 2014 were a big let-down, with most of the big stars failing to come to the party.
All our hopes had been pinned on the flamboyance and flair of mega stars like Didier Drogba, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou (Cote d’Ivoire); Alex Song, Samuel Eto’o, Benoit Essou-Ekoto (Cameroon); Vincent Enyeama, John Obi Mikel (Nigeria); Kevin-Prince Boateng, Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari (Ghana) to light up the global showpiece’s flame.
However, it was all doomsday for Africa as those big players turned into big flops.
The only African player who has ever made it into the final three of the fifa World Player of the Year competition was the great Liberian forward — George Weah — who went on to win the prestigious award back in 1995, when he was turning out for Italian giants, AC Milan.
So why have our African heroes been failing to impress in the past decade or so?
I think a lot has to do with their attitude which seem to flounder into egotistical patterns once they emigrate to Europe and feature in the elite leagues like the Spanish La Liga, English Premeirship, Italian Serie A and the German Bundesliga.
All of a sudden, they think they know it all and can’t seem to care about their African roots whenever they come back to feature in the African Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifying matches.
For how else can you describe the difference in the prowess of the likes of Gervinho, Demba Ba or Kalou when they play for club and country?
Going back to the top award, the only player who has won the Fifa Ballon d’Or title on most occasions consecutively is Barcelona and Argentina’s magician, Lionel Messi (2009-2012) followed by former Juventus and France star player, Michel Platini, who won it three times in a row (1983-85).
Please note that this award, conceptualised back in 1956 by France Football magazine — with Blackpool’s and England’s right winger, Sir Stanley Matthews, winning the inaugural award — was only for European players at European clubs, meaning that geniuses like Pele (who neither played for a European club nor is European) and Diego Maradona (who played at European clubs but is not European)were ineligible for the award.
A change in the rules in 1995 allowed non-European players to be eligible for the award.
It’s sad that before this change was initiated, the following African players could have had a strong claim to be amongst the Ballon d’Or finalists: Roger Milla (Cameroon); Mahomed Al-Khatib (Egypt); Lakhdar Belloumi and Rabah Madjer (Algeria).
So, do you want to know my choices for these world awards this time around? Here they are . . . Gotcha!
Till next week, remember to take care of your loved ones and each other. It’s bye bye for now.
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