I may be in the minority here, but I feel that the shortlist for the new FIFA Ballon d’Or actually got it (almost) right.  Messi, Xavi and Iniesta deserve this recognition.  My argument is quite simple: since there are already so many awards — UEFA Club Player of the Year, World Cup Golden Ball, etc. — shouldn’t the FIFA Ballon d’Or recognize something other than success in competitions where there are already awards for success?

Cast your memory back to 2006, and recall the Ballon d’Or/FIFA World Player of the Year (whichever one your prefer — it doesn’t matter) of that season.  Fabio Cannavaro won almost purely based on his World Cup performances.  Not that his work with Juventus wasn’t excellent, but the player of 2006, in a non-World Cup year, was a certain Ronaldinho.

This is hardly up for debate.  That season, the Brazilian put in some of the most imaginative, sublime offensive performances of the entire decade in both La Liga and the Champions League, and had he not been ineffectual in Germany that summer, he would have completed a 3-peat on the World Player of the Year award.

And so one has to ask, was Cannavaro the best player that year, or did he just win some of the most important team trophies?

This is simply meant to question how the players are assessed.  Currently, it seems that the award-givers base their decision on something like the list below, in order of importance:

1) Major international tournaments

2) Champions League

3) Domestic League

4) Individual Accolades (Most goals in a season, Club player of the year, etc.)

5) Skill

In years when the international tournaments don’t yield a clear favorite (like after Greece’s victory in Euro 2004), people look to see who won the Champions League, then go down the list.  But is this fair?  Isn’t Lionel Messi still far and away the best individual footballer on the planet?  And close behind him, I feel, are the Barcelona/Spain duo, Andres Iniesta and Xavi.

My point is that winning the World Cup doesn’t make someone the best player in the world.  It certainly didn’t in 2006 with Cannavaro, who probably wasn’t the best Italian defender that season, except for during the World Cup (that would be an injury-free Alessandro Nesta).

We don’t need the Ballon d’Or to be given to the best player in the World Cup because we already have an award for that.  It’s called the World Cup Golden Ball.  Ditto for the other major tournaments, including Euro and the Copa America.

In fact, there is also already an award for Club Player of the Year (won most recently by FIFA Ballon d’Or shortlist-excluded Diego Milito).  Maybe the FIFA Ballon d’Or should recognize something else — neither the best player in Europe nor the best international player, but truly the best individual player.  It wouldn’t be based on winning with your club or international team, because as I’ve repeated, there are other awards for that.  With all these awards that are de facto for team accolades, what is the point of the World Player of the Year award?

Should a Spaniard like Xavi win the award?  He won the World Cup and La Liga, and is the best central midfielder on the planet.  Or should Sneidjer have taken the honor, for leading Holland to second place and for ripping apart the Serie A and Europe with Inter?

Perhaps the new award should be inaugurated with a new type of winner: one who is recognized for talent regardless of that season’s trophy haul.  After all, plenty of average players win Champions Leagues and domestic titles every single year.  Wes Brown might be one of the most decorated players currently playing in the Premier League, yet I doubt many would consider him to be one of the best players around.

So, as football viewers and not mere trophy counters, shouldn’t we demand that the most skilled, dazzling player of the year win this award, rather than just underscore the accolades already given out in every other competition?  Sure, it would be a lot harder to decide than the trophy addition that happens now, but it might be more fair.

Lastly, I mentioned in the beginning that I almost fully agreed with the award.  The only substitution I would make is Sneijder for Iniesta.  I actually think that normally Iniesta is a better footballer than Sneijder, but this year the Spaniard was not as good as the Dutchman (again, not in terms of trophies, just in general).

We are coming up on that time of the year when the next three months we will dress up as someone or something, eat some turkey or some bird till we get fat, and open some presents from our families that we will probably return 2 weeks later. It is also the time when the major awards in football will be awarded.

The Ballon D’Or given to the European Player Of The Year and FIFA World Player Of The Year have been “kissing cousins” since the FIFA award’s inception in 1991.  In fact, 10 of the last 17 Ballon D’Or winners have won the FIFA award including the last 3 winners.  Only 3 times since 1991 has the Ballon D’Or winner not finished in the Top 3 of the FIFA award voting. It is likely this year once again, the winner of the Ballon D’Or will also win the FIFA P.O.Y., so let’s look at the 3 best candidates. 

Cristiano Ronaldo
 
The Portuguese superstar was a virtual lock for both awards at the end of the club season. His play carried Manchester United to the Premiership and a 3rd European Cup. He scored in the Champions League final but got cute with a PK, lucky for him John Terry messed up too. 42 goals in 49 total matches is a great feat but his steam ran out at the 2008 European Championship where he was ineffective to say the least. Maybe he was tired from the club season, whatever the case his lock on both awards were broken.

Iker Casillas

The Real Madrid goalkeeper is the best at his position in the world right now. He also has a double winning La Liga with Los Merengues and then capturing the European Championship with Spain. He was brilliant in Euro 2008 keeping a clean sheet throughout the knockout stage and his PK saves versus Italy in the quarters propelled Spain to the title. In addition, who knows how many points he saved Real Madrid throughout the course of the La Liga season.

Xavi
 
Xavier Hernández Creus does not have as much hardware as the Ronaldo or Casillas this year but he is just as valuable. The man known as Xavi won the European Championship with Spain and was named the player of the tournament.  He didn’t win anything with Barca but they might be in the UEFA Cup if it weren’t for him.  He scores timely goals and is the prototypical midfielder connecting the defense to the offense.  That is why the Blaugrana will lock up the Catalan star contractually for the rest of his career.

Since we’re lumping both the FIFA P.O.Y. & Ballon D’Or together, the winner should be:
Iker Casillas

Cristiano Ronaldo is a VERY close 2nd, Iker gets the nod because he did it at both the club and national team levels. If there were no international competitions this year than Ronaldo is a runaway winner but that’s not the case. Show the netminders some love, its hard being a good keeper at Real Madrid besides no keeper has won either award.

Award Winners – Part II.  Next up the candidates for South American Player Of The Year.