5 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo might not win the FIFA The Best award this year

We have already entered the latter stages of the year and the race to be named the best player in the world is heating up at the moment as several footballers continue to impress with their amazing abilities.

Having witnessed our top superstars perform incredibly for their clubs at both domestic and continental levels as well as representing their respective nations in the recently-concluded World Cup tournament in Russia - FIFA, football's governing body has picked 3 players to compete for the chance to be recognized as the Best Player in the World for the year.

Once again, all eyes will be on new Juventus signing, Cristiano Ronaldo to clinch the accolade, after helping Real Madrid to win their third consecutive UEFA Champions League title last season. The Portuguese claimed the previous edition of the award and he has also emerged as a frontrunner to defend it this year - thanks to a brilliant outing with the Spanish giants during the campaign.

However, just as he failed to win the UEFA Player Of The Year award recently, Ronaldo could also miss out on the FIFA The Best honour and below are 5 reasons why:

#5 Lack of domestic success

Despite European success with Real Madrid, Ronaldo failed domestically last season

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the most impressive players in Europe last season, scoring plenty of goals and breaking records upon records as Real Madrid cruised to the third consecutive Champions League triumph. However, the same cannot be said of the Portuguese if we consider his performances and achievements at the domestic level.

The attacker endured an unimpressive campaign in Spain last term, failing to produce the kind of performances he is well-known for during first half of the La Liga season. Although he did improve in the second phase, he could not inspire Real Madrid as they lost both the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey trophy to Barcelona.

Obviously, the Portuguese winger has no tangible achievement to show for his domestic campaign and that could hinder him from being named FIFA's Best Player Of The Year, with the race for the award splitting wide open at the moment.

#4.Portugal's failure in the FIFA World Cup

The attacker failed to inspire his nation to go further in the competition

Following a lot of anticipation and expectations, The FIFA World Cup, mother of all football competitions finally took place in Russia this year - with 32 teams locking horns in an intense tournament that produced only one winner.

Just like other top superstars on the planet, Cristiano Ronaldo led his nation into competition with the aim to claim the prestigious trophy. A couple of decent performances helped the Portuguese to progress into knockout stage but they failed to make any reasonable impact as they were knocked out by Uruguay 2-1 in the Round of 16 - concluding another mediocre outing on the grandest stage for the 5-time Ballon d'Or winner.

Whereas the likes of Luka Modric, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Eden Hazard emerged as the brightest figures in the tournament and they now pose a serious threat to Ronaldo's chances of winning the FIFA Player Of The Year award this year.

#3 Lack of consistency

Despite Ronaldo's brilliance

last

term, he still suffered

with

consistency

It doesn't go without saying Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the top performers on the planet last season, with the Portuguese racking up plenty number of goals and leading his club to claim European glory. However, despite his brilliance, the consistency of his performances can be questioned.

The attacker suffered his worst start to a domestic campaign with Real Madrid last term, scoring an embarrassing 2 goals in his first 10 La Liga appearances. He also suffered something similar in the World Cup, bagging 4 goals in his initial 2 matches only disappear afterward.

The UEFA Champions League was his most impressive competition during the campaign, yet, after scoring plenty of goals from the beginning of the tournament up to the quarterfinals, the attacker went totally missing during the concluding phase of the competition, failing to find the back of the net in both the semi-final and the final.

#2 Luka Modric

The playmaker has emerged as a serious threat to Ronaldo's chances of winning the award this year

The race to win the FIFA Player Of The Year award is so open at the moment that it has become a very huge task for Cristiano Ronaldo to defend the accolade. As a matter of fact, another superstar could rise up and beat the Portuguese to the award this term and that could end up being his former teammate, Luka Modric.

Following a brilliant campaign in the FIFA World Cup in which the Croatian led his nation to the final of the tournament as well as claiming the prestigious Golden Ball for his amazing performances, Modric has emerged as Ronaldo's biggest threat in the race to be named the best player in the world this year.

Having defeated the Portuguese to win the UEFA Player Of The Year honor recently, there is no doubt the midfielder could also repeat such a feat in the FIFA Best Award and eventually put an end to the attackers reign on top of the football universe.

#1 A poor start to the new campaign

Another slow start for the Portuguese

It is not news anymore that Cristiano Ronaldo has left Real Madrid for Juventus. After spending a trophy-laden 9 seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, the Portuguese decided to take on a new challenge in his career, completing a £88 million move to join the Italian champions.

The attacker was expected to have instant impacts at the Allianz Stadium following his mega-move to the Seria A this summer, but he has failed to meet up with the expectations before him - failing to find the back of the net in 3 consecutive matches and recording another poor start to a domestic campaign.

Whereas, the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Eden Hazard and Mohamed Salah have all got the ground running this season. With the race to the award getting tighter every day, anything could prove to be decisive and a poor start to the campaign is never a good sign for Cristiano Ronaldo.