The Ballon d'Or Ignores the Premier League: Why England's Stars Rarely Receive the Award.

According to The Sun: BALLON d’Or... or Ballon D’oh! — more this time.

This award, which in English means 'Golden Ball', has once again raised many questions about its fairness.

AFP

Despite European football dominating for decades, clubs from the Premier League have only won three awards: Rodri last year, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Michael Owen.

This raises suspicions.

Since the creation of the Premier League in 1992-93, English teams have won the Champions League seven times and reached the final nine times.

However, the trophy, first awarded to the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews in 1956, mainly goes to teams from other countries, and players from the Premier League have very few chances.

Looking back at the voting results for 2023, I was surprised when Erling Haaland, who scored more goals in the season than some politicians, only came in second.

Lionel Messi received the award, although he spent part of the season in the American league with players at the end of their careers at 'Inter Miami'.

This looks absurd.

The Premier League has seen many outstanding players: Dennis Bergkamp, Eric Cantona, Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Virgil van Dijk and Kevin De Bruyne, who became finalists but never received the award.

Strangely, only seven footballers over 69 years have received the Ballon d’Or playing in our elite league: Sir Stanley, Denis Law, Bobby Charlton, George Best, Owen, Ronaldo and Rodri.

Kevin Keegan won his trophy playing for 'Hamburg'.

Why are Premier League Players Ignored?

So why do players from the Premier League continuously get sidelined?

Perhaps the reason is that the award is organized and awarded by the French. Sacre bleu! That sounds tense.

The trophy is determined by French journalists from two leading media outlets that compile a list of 30 players.

Subsequently, 100 reporters from 100 countries, who are part of FIFA's top 100, vote for the winner.

For the women's award this year, 50 journalists from 50 FIFA countries participate in the voting.

Although the final list of 30 players is formed by French reporters, the voting is global.

Ballon d'Or Winners from English Football

Sir Stanley Matthews – Blackpool, 1956

Denis Law – Manchester United, 1964

Bobby Charlton – Manchester United, 1966

George Best – Manchester United, 1968

Michael Owen – Liverpool, 2001

Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United, 2008

Rodri – Manchester City, 2024

So why does such ambiguity arise if the Premier League is considered the elite home for football?

It seems that English clubs simply do not receive the attention they deserve.

The Scots also still remember the 1967 decision, when the 'Lisbon Lions' from 'Celtic' won everything in the north and the European Cup.

It seems that a Scottish player should have received this award back then? Not at all.

This award went to Florian Albert from the Hungarian 'Ferencvaros'.

And what about Scotland? How could Kenny Dalglish not receive this award? He earned ten championship titles and three European cups, scoring the winning goal in the final in 1978, yet he never took the Ballon d’Or.

This year's award went to Ousmane Dembélé from 'Paris Saint-Germain', second place went to Lamine Yamal, and third to Vitinha.

The only representatives from the Premier League in the top ten were Mohamed Salah in fourth place and Cole Palmer in eighth, while ninth Gianluigi Donnarumma joined Manchester City from 'PSG'.

Arsenal won their first Champions Cup among women, so it was expected that an Arsenal player would receive the Ballon d'Or Feminin.

But they went home empty-handed, as the trophy was awarded to Aitana Bonmatí from Barcelona, who won it for the second time in a row.

Thus, women also did not escape attention.

The Ballon d'Or is undoubtedly a complex and controversial topic in the world of football.

Michael Owen won the Ballon d'Or in 2001 Offside - L'Equipe News Group Newspapers Ltd *The Premier League remains the epicenter of world football, but the question of the fairness of the voting for the Ballon d'Or still causes significant debate. It is important to understand how this award is perceived in different countries and what factors influence who gets it and why. This reinforces that football is not just a game, but a part of culture that evokes emotions and requires careful attention to the outcomes.*