Arsene Wenger has made a bold statement that the FIFA Ballon d’Or award makes players become more individualistic in their approach.
The award, which was formed as a unification of the Ballon d’Or award and the FIFA world Player of the Year title, is given out to the best player at the end of each calendar year. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated this award since its inception. No other player has managed to win the title with Kaka being the last player to be crowned as the world’s best apart from this duo.
It is a commonly held belief that Ronaldo is one of the individualistic players around. The Portuguese superstar is so intent on scoring almost every goal that he sometimes looks down better options available. Arsene Wenger says that it may be the case with almost every other player who has a target of winning the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.
Even though FIFA have announced a split from the French magazine which gives out the award, it is still expected to spark a new war when it comes to being the best player in the world. Wenger has reminded fans that the game is about a team spirit, on which he has based his Arsenal team even during the tough times.
"We want to respect what football is about, first about the team effort. I'm against all these things. I've seen careers destroyed because the players are too much obsessed to get individual rewards.I feel sometimes it encourages selfishness and people to go too much for their own sake when some partners are in a better position," said Wenger. Jose Mourinho also agreed with the opinions of Wenger by saying that the FIFA Ballon d’Or award makes a player selfish. Ronaldo is the overwhelming favourite to win the title this year.
