5 reasons why Lionel Messi is bigger than the Ballon d'Or

#3 Tumbling stock of the Ballon d'Or

Many believe that the Ballon d'Or should be scrapped altogether

The Ballon d'Or deems its winner as the best player in the world. Well, that's what it's supposed to do at least. However, as fate has dictated so far, the last decade has witnessed a slow, but steady drop in the sheer significance of the award.

That's what happens when an award open to all, is constantly given away to just 2 individuals. The Messi-Ronaldo duopoly has reduced the Ballon d'Or to a golden ball that simply adds fuel to the raging fire that is the Messi-Ronaldo debate.

Their rivalry has rendered world football's most prized individual award into just another award used to compare the two.

Some of the best players to have ever graced the game, have been forced to end their careers without so much as a sniff of the golden beauty. With unpredictability taken right out of the equation, the Ballon d'Or is no more a contest to determine the best player in the world, but merely determines the best player in this particular rivalry.

As a result, consolatory statements like "A player doesn't need to win a Ballon d'Or to prove that he's great" were coined as resignation to the fact that it's just a contest between two superhumans.

When the world has begun to downplay the immense significance of the award, what makes any of us think that Leo Messi holds it in highest regard? When we, the fans, treat it like just a formality, why should Leo Messi regard it above all else?

The Ballon d'Or's falling stock essentially tells us that it's not the be-all and end-all in world football, and should, quite frankly, be done away with.