Paris (AFP)
The Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious individual award in football, will not be awarded in 2020 because of a season disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, announced Monday the weekly France Football which awards it.
"For the first time since 1956, the Ballon d'Or will take a break. There will be no 2020 edition, because it turns out, after reflection, that all the conditions are not met. We believe that "such a singular year cannot - should not be treated like an ordinary year", affirms the editor-in-chief of the review, Pascal Ferré, in a press release.
The Argentinian Lionel Messi and the American Megan Rapinoe, crowned in 2019, will therefore have no successor this year.
The Kopa trophies, crowning the best youngster under 21 (awarded in 2019 to the Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt), and Yachine, rewarding the best goalkeeper (won in 2019 by the Brazilian Alisson Becker), will also not be awarded.
- "Not housed in the same boat" -
France Football justifies this decision by "the equity which prevails for this honorary title (which) could not be preserved, in particular at the statistical level and also of the preparation since all the aspirants with the reward could not be accommodated in the same sign" .
The Covid-19 pandemic forced all major football championships to stop for several months, and led to the postponement of Euro-2020 to 2021.
Some championships have resumed behind closed doors, as in Germany, Spain, England or Italy, others like French Ligue 1 where almost all of the women's championships have been definitively stopped.
In Europe, the Champions League and the Europa League must resume in August with round of 16 behind closed doors and a final tournament of eight ("Final 8") without round-trip matches in Lisbon.
"We did not wish to affix to the prize list an indelible asterisk of the style + trophy won in exceptional circumstances due to the health crisis of Covid-19 +. We will always prefer a small sprain (to our history) to a big scar", argues France Soccer.
The magazine will instead name an ideal eleven of the best players of all time, after a vote by the usual Ballon d'Or jury.
© 2020 AFP