Ballon d’Or: Is Two Months Enough to Crown the Best Player on the Planet?

The super-prestigious award isn’t given lightly. A whole year’s effort and excellence should be what grants one special player the honour of lifting that glittering, golden orb. And that begs the question of exactly how 2020’s winner will be decided, come December. While everyone hopes the beautiful game will come back to life sooner rather than later, the fact is some major competitions will definitely not be happening, even if lockdown restrictions are lifted in the coming weeks and months. Euro 2020 has become Euro 2021, while the Copa América has also been shunted over to next year. This means the world’s top players won’t have a chance to shine on the international stage and win those all-important plaudits that can be key to deciding who ends up clasping the Golden Ball.

But what if the sport just doesn’t re-start at all? If domestic league fixtures and the Champions League remain suspended in tantalizing limbo? Sounds unthinkable, but then “unthinkable” has been the running theme of 2020 so far, and the course of the coronavirus pandemic remains maddeningly unpredictable. 

If the worst case scenario does unfold, and the rest of the year remains football-free, the Ballon d’Or may potentially be awarded based solely on the first few months of 2020. Which would certainly make things… interesting.

Any conversation about the Ballon d’Or has to include two living legends of the game: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Since 2008, the arch-rivals have maintained possession of the Golden Ball, except in 2018, when there was a glitch in the football matrix and Croatian star Luka Modric became the first player other than Messi or Ronaldo to take the prize in a decade.

Messi, of course, has scooped the Ballon d’Or a record six times, but can he enhance his already god-like status with a seventh award? Based on the limited play we’ve seen in 2020, it’ll be a tall order. Yes, he’s put in some strong showings for his beloved Barcelona this year (including a hefty haul of four goals during a 5-0 demolition of Eibar in February), and his club is currently leading the pack in La Liga. However, Real Madrid are nipping at Barça’s heels just two points behind, Athletic Bilbao knocked them out of the Copa del Rey, and Messi himself has said he doesn’t fancy their chances of winning the Champions League. The legend’s own recent lacklustre form has also triggered much chatter among pundits. 

If the football freeze continues throughout 2020, Messi will be denied the chance to remind everyone of his brilliance by putting Barcelona comfortably ahead of the La Liga pack. Plus, the postponement of the Copa America means serious international silverware will continue to elude the Argentine captain. That said, despite the uncertainty surrounding the return of football, the little Magician is still favourite for the award say Compare.bet. 

Does that mean it’s Ronaldo’s turn to win the annual tug-of-war between these two rivals? The Portuguese icon had a good start to 2020, totting up plenty of goals for Juventus. Indeed, he equalled a long-standing Italian record by scoring in 11 consecutive Serie A games for the Old Lady (including two penalties in a 3-0 thrashing of Fiorentina). The big question is whether Juventus can turn things around in the Champions League. We’re currently awaiting the resolution of a cliffhanger, with Juventus suffering a last-16 first-leg defeat against underdogs Lyon. If the tournament resumes and Ronaldo helps them overcome Lyon and maybe, just maybe clinch their first Champions League win since 1996, then that Golden Ball may yet end up with the great man again.

How about Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski? The Pole proved instrumental in a decisive dismemberment of Chelsea in their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie, scoring one goal and setting up two others for the 0-3 victory. Not only that, but the hiatus forced by the coronavirus has left Lewandowski as the current top scorer of this year’s Champions League. If the limbo continues throughout 2020, his stellar performances in the early months are sure to shine even more brightly for the Ballon d’Or bigwigs.

Then there’s Neymar, who – like Lewandowski – has excelled in the Champions League this year. The Paris Saint-Germain star scored in both legs of their last-16 tie with Borussia Dortmund, playing a crucial part in seeing off the threat posed by their prodigal hotshot Erling Haaland. Neymar hasn’t been slacking on the domestic front either, scoring plenty of goals and assisting plenty others in Ligue 1. But will that be enough to win him the Golden Ball if he doesn’t get to propel PSG further into the Champions League? Similar questions swirl around another PSG player in the running, Kylian Mbappé, who’s played a key part in establishing the team’s dominance of Ligue 1.

As for the aforementioned Erling Haaland, if there’s one player who stands to benefit the most from the football freeze, it’s this Norwegian wonderboy. The 19-year-old has had a spectacular year since starting his tenure at Dortmund, scoring a hat trick in his very first game. That’s certainly one way to begin your spell at a club. Another is to follow a debut treble with two goals in the next game, and – why not? – a brace in the game after that. Not content with living up to the hype on the home front, Haaland has also proved his genius beyond the Bundesliga, scoring two goals in the Champions League last-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain. Of course, the fact that Dortmund were eventually knocked out by PSG can’t be ignored, but the sheer brilliance of Haaland’s first few months of the year could be enough to bag him the Golden Ball, if older names aren’t given a chance to win back the limelight. 

Nothing’s ever certain in football, and that’s never been truer than in 2020. Whatever happens, it’ll be fascinating to see who might benefit – or not – from an unprecedented period in sport.