TICKET. Golden Ball: clarity for more credibility

Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or last night at a ceremony at the Grand Palais in Paris. Strongly criticized for several years, the distinction is strong this year. Aberrations in the rankings, leaks before the ceremony, and criteria to be defined more clearly. Flirting with ridicule, is the Golden Ball still credible?

The ceremony of the Ballon d'Or 2018 made its verdict last night in Paris. Luka Modric is the winner in front of Cristiano Ronaldo and Antoine Griezmann. Year after year, one can not help wondering about the credibility of this reward.

Credible criteria

Created in 1956 by France Football magazine, the Ballon d'Or rewards the best football player of the year. But what are the votes of the 180 international journalists based on? One can express doubts about their objectivity and their real consideration of all the logical criteria to be taken into account.

The Golden Ball makes it possible to distinguish a particular player for his exceptional season, as well in club as in selection. Individual performances and statistics should not take precedence over the titles and the importance of the player in their conquest.

It is not supposed to reward the only talent of a player even if it was the case during 10 years with Messi and Ronaldo. This year, a new laureate has been celebrated, but that does not change the situation. The ranking surprises, disappoints and sometimes even faint.

A ridiculous ceremony, a classification with enough aberrations to discredit it a little more, but it seems that there's only that that counts. We can not wait for next year #Ballondor

Grenada vote Aguëro

Some votes of journalists discredit this reward, so prestigious it is. Sergio Aguero, Luis Suarez or Karim Benzema were to be the winners for some voters. Seriously?

How can you vote Aguero / Benzema / Suarez / Neymar on the year 2018? Zero credibility and questions to ask. # ballondor2018 #Modric #Ronaldo #Griezmann pic.twitter.com/0qA6sB4GPj

Luka Modric undoubtedly deserves its reward but the details of votes reveal inconsistencies, flaws, absurdities in the designation of the Golden Ball. World champion and winner of the Champions League, Raphaël Varane finished only a disappointing 7th place.

The French defender, however, won everything by being decisive in the conquest of the trophies of his selection and Real Madrid. He was predicting the podium, sometimes even the final victory. Result: absent from the top 5. Incomprehensible.

So, how to proceed? Avenues for reflection can emerge from the observation of these inconsistencies. Define more precisely the objective criteria of the Golden Ball, tighten the number of voters, create a trophy for each position ... There are things to do and we can not let die this prestigious award .

Leaks on social networks

The final bouquet is the leaks in the press. At 18:30, an image of the official ranking appeared on social networks with the details of the votes for each player. Four hours before the officialization, the football fans who were kicking on Twitter knew that Luka Modric was going to win the 2018 Golden Ball. Even the little suspense and interest that could be had during this ceremony did not occurred.

The ranking of #BallondOr corresponds for the moment to a picture of the ranking that leaked on the internet. pic.twitter.com/RRG73BIgpy

The only satisfaction of the evening remains the delivery of the first Women's Golden Ball to the talented player Olympique Lyonnais, Ada Hegerberg. Kylian Mbappé won the Raymond Kopa trophy where the suspense was already dead before the creation of the award.