"Needs a reset after the Messi and Ronaldo years" - Pundit wants Ballon d'Or to be awarded based on sporting merit and not on emotional attachment

Former England international Stan Collymore wants the Ballon d'Or to be awarded on merit. He's hinted that a few of those trophies earned by the legendary duo may have come more from emotion. He suggested that the award should look to the new generation of superstars on the back of what appears to be the end of the Ronaldo-Messi rivalry.

Collymore said on Caught Offside (via GOAL):

“I want the Ballon d’Or to be given on sporting merit, but it’s not. Or at least it hasn’t been for a while. I think we’ve got to a ridiculous situation where the Ballon d’Or has become a subjective decision given out because of the emotional attachment and which is always going to reward players that have been in the game for a long time."

He added:

"Think of the Oscars and a Lifetime Achievement Award… the Ballon d’Or should not be a Lifetime Achievement Award, it should be an ‘in the now’ achievement award."

Collymore concluded:

"It needs a reset after the Messi and Ronaldo years, and now we’ve got the luxury of having Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Vini Jr., Phil Foden, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham - a number of quality younger players that are playing for big clubs and are doing the business."

The legendary duo won 13 award between them, winning the Argentine winning it a record eight times.

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Who are the Ballon d'Or winners since the turn of the century? Ft. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

Luis Figo, while representing Barcelona, won the 2000 Ballon d'Or to welcome the new century. The fourth Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or Michael Owen followed the Portuguese. Brazilian sensation Ronaldo Nazario won the Ballon d'Or for a brilliant campaign after that, with Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved winning it in 2003.

Andriy Shevchenko won it in 2004 with AC Milan with Ronaldinho bagging it in 2005 while with Barcelona. They were followed by Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro lifting the trophy in 2006 after guiding Italy to a World Cup triumph.

Kaka won the trophy in 2007 and then came a 10-year period where Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi kept the award between them. Luke Modric won it in 2018 after a brilliant campaign with Real Madrid and Croatia. Messi won it again in 2019 and 2021 (2020 wasn't awarded to anyone due to COVID-19 with Robert Lewandowski favorite to win it).

Karim Benzema won it in 2022 with Messi bagging a historic eighth Ballon d'Or in 2023.