Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has criticised the FIFA Ballon d’Or award as a political affairs amidst unhappiness that he was not considered as a potential winner last year. Ribery came third in the rankings for last year’s award while his Bayern Munich teammate Manuel Neuer finished in the same position for this year’s title.
Neuer was mentioned as a worthy winner of the title after having won the World Cup, German Bundesliga and the German Cup. The eventual winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, had won the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, but he was extremely poor in all other competitions.
Ronaldo may have scored a lot of goals, but Ribery feels that the award is now designed in such a way that only the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can win it year after year. The duo have shared the award for the past five seasons. The Ballon d’Or was united with the FIFA world Player of the Year award since 2010. Ribery says that he is extremely angry with the way the awards have turned out in the last two seasons especially. Despite winning no major trophies in the last season, Messi finished in the second place ahead ofNeuer.
"I was really angry, but it is the same every year. You don't know what you have to do in order to win the vote. For the last two or three years, Neuer has been the world's best goalkeeper and had won titles with the club. In Brazil, he was the best goalkeeper and is a world champion, but that's clearly not enough. I don't understand it! If a Bayern player is again nominated, we should consider whether it is worth travelling to the award ceremony. That is just politics for me,” said the Bayern Munich winger.
