Ballon d'Or: who deserves it in 2019? Megan Scott dives into some of the favourites and controversies of this year’s winner, find out more before the awards ceremony on Dec 2nd, 2019:
Since 1958, France Football have awarded the famed Ballon d’Or award to the footballer considered to have performed to the highest standard over the year. It took until 2018 for the creation of a women’s category, the first recipient being Olympique Lyonnais striker Ada Hegerberg whose win came in a season that culminated with her club’s fourth straight Champions League title after a 4-1 victory over Barcelona.
Hegerberg successfully completed a hattrick with only half an hour of the game played to help attain Lyon’s sixth overall Champions League title and with the 2019/20 season currently underway, the Norwegian striking force has picked up right where she left off: having recently broken the all-time scoring record in the Champions League with 53 goals in 50 tournament appearances.
But despite such amazing form, Hegerberg is not leading the charge for victory this year. After all, due to a dispute with the Norwegian Football Federation over the treatment of women’s football, Hegerberg retired from the international game in 2017. This should, theoretically, not drastically affect her chances (as proven last year) but World Cup bias has had an almighty effect on voting for awards that are supposedly considering an entire year’s worth of football.
This is not to say performances in the World Cup should not be praised and awarded, but that is exactly why FIFA have trophies specific to the tournament upon completion. This year, the recipients of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ball for player of the tournament were Megan Rapinoe, Lucy Bronze, and Rose Lavelle respectively. Rapinoe, already a known talent, saw her star truly shine during the World Cup due to what she did on the pitch and what she said off of it and since July, has taken home a host of awards including FIFA Player of the Year.
What Rapinoe has done with her elevated platform is impressive and necessary, but the Reign FC striker herself acknowledged her successes have come ‘in large part due to [her] activism off the field.’ Yes, Rapinoe shone at the World Cup and has used her media attention for good, but if the Ballon d’Or truly awards a player who has played the best over the course of the year it makes absolutely no sense for her to win it.
In the National Women’s Soccer League (the domestic American league in which Rapinoe plays) an injury blighted the striker’s season and Rapinoe played only six games for Reign, not even registering 500 minutes of game time. With this in mind, the fact she has continued to win the top awards this season shows there is clearly a problem in the distribution of performance-based awards being handed to those with media presence rather than those deserving of such accolades.
This is understandable in some regards, what with the World Cup being more accessible for viewers than many domestic leagues and a number of awards containing a fan voting element, both of which can easily skew a vote. But one would hope a jury of expert journalists would be able to see through the media frenzy of the World Cup. This, of course, is dependent on said jury having the same investment in the women’s game as they do the men’s and growing awareness of the women’s game does not necessarily lend itself to equal respect. The shortlist itself raises eyebrows at some of the names featured as well as those who were snubbed:
Amel Majri was a stroke of creative genius for both club and country. With 10 goals in her domestic league, the versatile player also created the most chances of any player at the World Cup. Caroline Graham Hanson scored 14 goals and provided 29 assists in 33 games for former club Wolfsburg. When we consider the Americans who failed to make the cut, the biggest snub of all is arguably Chicago Red Stars midfielder Julie Ertz.
Labelled the heart and soul of the US midfield upon being named in the FIFPro World Eleven, Ertz was a constant and imposing figure for club and country with an astounding 3196 minutes of game under her belt. Completing 18 interceptions and 87 successful duels over her domestic season, Ertz’s staggering defensive talent led her team to the NWSL Playoff Final after an historic performance to defeat the Portland Thorns in the semi-final: a team Chicago had never bested in a competitive fixture prior to the game.
While the title of greatest footballer is always going to be a subjective point of contention, it is simultaneously proving increasingly frustrating and imperative to make strides in awarding those deserving rather than those most known. Take the recent announcements to the NWSL salary process: allocation money can be used to invest in players which would allow wages to be in excess of the maximum salary cap ($50,000) but these players must meet certain criteria.
These criteria, which privilege international team players, include the notion that a player who is voted into the NWSL Best XI or Second XI is eligible for allocation money. This year, both the Best XI and the Second XI were oversaturated with US Women’s National Team players who had missed a number of games due to international duty, leading to great backlash across social media, including from the winning players themselves. If awards are starting to influence how a person gets paid, then we need to look beyond the easiest accessible point of reference by which to judge their performance.
Ultimately though, all of this could be an entirely pessimistic viewpoint based on a year of questionable victories that can be understood through the lens of a fan voting element non-existent in the Ballon d’Or process. Growing awareness of the women’s game is always welcome, but with more eyes on female players, their abilities deserves fair judgement which can only help both talent and reputation grow.