5 reasons why Gianluigi Buffon should win the Ballon d'Or?

#2 Getting rid of the forward and midfielder bias

Neymar, Messi, and Ronaldo - perennial top three candidates

I think we all know where this is heading towards, isn’t it? There is this scooty ad where Indian actress and former Miss World, Priyanka Chopra, asks, “why should boys have all the fun?” I have a similar question when it comes to the Ballon d’Or: why should forwards win this award all the time?

Indeed, in the history of this award, only four times has it happened that the award wasn’t won by a forward or a midfielder. The first time it happened was with Lev Yashin. After him, it was the Kaizer, Franz Beckenbauer, who was followed by Matthias Sammer and then Fabio Cannavaro.

So, you see, it’s been a while. In the long history of the Ballon d’Or, if only four players from the defensive side of the game won the award, then it is clear as the sky that the award is biased towards the more flashy players – the ones that wow the world with their flamboyance.

Since football is a team sport, every player on the pitch should be treated with equal respect, but the selection criteria of the Ballon d’Or makes that impossible.

It is time for the defensive players to be recognised.