Ballon d'Or 2018: 5 reasons why Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo not winning is great news

#3 Collective improvement

Mbappe and Neymar are future Ballon d'Or contenders

Since the hopes of the other players would increase, so will their desire to improve. If they realise that the playing field is even, they would put in everything in order to ensure that they are holding the most prestigious individual honour in the game.

People might say that football is a team sport and individuality has little place in it. However, the Ballon d’Or, no matter how pointless it might be in the context of a team game such as football, is an accolade that every individual aspires to win.

It gives them the tag of being better than the rest: the very best.

So, with that in mind, coupled with the rising hope with the beginning of a new era, players will put in more effort to improve individually; which, in turn, improves a team.

Up until now, they might have had a lingering thought that no matter what they did, Messi or Ronaldo would lift the award.

Not anymore.