Everyone is asking about the players closest to the succession of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in winning the golden ball awarded to the best soccer player in the world, but we ask the question from another perspective, and we answer it through experts, which is: When does an Arab player win the golden ball?
Since the global award was turned over to include all players in 1995 - the year in which the Liberian player George Weah was crowned - after it was awarded to European players only, no Arab player has received it or is among the first three in it despite the brilliance of some Arab stars in European stadiums during the years The last of them is Mohamed Salah, top scorer for Liverpool, and Manchester City striker Riyadh Mahrez.
In a season less than the one before "Salah", Salah is ranked first in the Golden Ball ranking from the sixth to the fifth .. Salah keeps his continuity within the elite in the world, and he prefers as he always leads to the image in the team competing for all competitions pic.twitter.com/pf0gyNUGbI
- Amir Abdel Halim (@AmirAbdElhalim) December 2, 2019
Hafid Darraji, football commentator on BN Sports channels, confirms that no Arab player - at the present or previous time - deserves to win the Golden Ball, and that whoever won it during the last ten years deserved it deservedly.
Draghi says in his talk to Al-Jazeera Net that he does not rule out the future victory of an Arab player in the Golden Ball, but in only two cases, if he achieved major global or European achievements, or the level and achievements of prominent world football stars fell, led by Messi, the most crowned player with six gold balls, followed by Ronaldo with five Balls.
السادسة The sixth golden ball of legend Liu Messi placed in the museum 🤩 pic.twitter.com/DhIQkSZujn
Messi Messi (@ Team_10_Messi) January 16, 2020
Dutch star Feyenoord and former Egyptian national Haitham Farouk agree with Draghi that it is difficult for any Arab player to win the Golden Ball, despite the arrival of Riyadh Mahrez and Mohamed Salah to advanced positions.
In his talk to Al-Jazeera Net, Farouk justifies his view that crowning this prestigious award is not only related to technical capabilities, but there are other important factors, the most important of which is to be a player in one of the European summit clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus, and to be radiant with the team as well and made achievements with him There is currently no Arab star in these clubs.
He noted that when he won the award, George Weah was the most prominent star of the Italian team, and that was in the year 1995, which is an individual year in which there is no big tournament like the World Cup, which made it easier for him to win the award.
Legend George Wai😍 pic.twitter.com/2XbhnTKo9U
- AS Arabia (@as_arabia) June 7, 2019
For his part, the correspondent of the magazine "France Football" in the Middle East, Zafar Allah, the muezzin of Al-Jazeera Net, says that the Golden Ball award is not related to a specific nationality, but is governed by strict criteria such as the personal and collective achievements of the player, and the extent of his contribution to achieving these accomplishments, whether for his club or the national team, Noting that the best players in the world are professional in major European leagues, so the award did not exceed European borders.
The muezzin - who is one of the voters in the award - pointed out that the former Iraqi national star, Younis Mahmoud, was the first player to enter the list of nominations for the Golden Ball Award thanks to his outstanding contribution to crowning his country in the 2007 Asian Cup.
المصري The Egyptian Arab star Mohamed Salah and the Liverpool player have been nominated for the Golden Balloon award "Balloon Dor" 🇾🇪😍.pic.twitter.com / 5pPgNt4fXw
- EPLWORLD (@EPLworld) October 21, 2019
He stressed that the opportunity for Arab players is currently great in light of the professionalism of some Arab football stars in large European clubs, most notably Muhammad Salah, who considered him the closest Arab player to winning this award because he possesses great technical value, indicating that after him comes Mehrez, but they must achieve championships As big as the Champions League or the World Cup with Egypt and Algeria, and this is very difficult if not impossible.
It has been announced that the Arab star Riyad Mahrez and the Manchester City player are nominated for the Balloon d'Or golden ball award 🇩🇿😍.pic.twitter.com / KbxUcFVtEo
- EPLWORLD (@EPLworld) October 21, 2019
Football commentator for "BN Sports" Ahmed Abdo believes that it is difficult for any Arab player, regardless of his level, to win the golden ball for several reasons, including the lack of strong support from the institutions behind him, and the lack of playing or glittering in major clubs such as Real Madrid or Barcelona.
Abdo said in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the achievement of Mohamed Salah by obtaining third place in the "Best" award two seasons ago was a miracle that was difficult to repeat again, which is like an Arab team competing for the World Cup title.
🇭🇷 Luka Modric, 2018 FIFA World Cup winner, is 34 years old today.
🎂 Happy birthday! @ lukamodric10 pic.twitter.com/NLeeA9DvLE
- @fifaworldcup_ar (@fifaworldcup_ar) September 9, 2019