Ballon d'Or 2010: Lionel Messi Wins Prize For World's Best Player

In November of last year, I blogged about the Ballon d’Or or the Golden Ball when FIFA made the shortlist of nominations available. And though I wasn’t able to list down the 3 players nominated: Xavi, Messi and Iniesta all of FC Barcelona, here is the latest on the Ballon d’ Or.

Lionel Messi wins for 2^nd time in a row. He was the Ballon d’Or winner and the FIFA World Player of the Year last year when these awards were given separately, and he is again today. And as usual, the decision was controversial. First, footballers and fans alike were surprised when Wesley Sneijder was snubbed as a finalist, then Messi won again when he was in fact mediocre during the World Cup. According to the panel of judges, they chose Messi because of his astounding club form. Messi has spent the year scoring a goal per game and in the cases where he didn’t score he was able to provide or assist for the strikes.

On the other hand, the Spaniards have been really hoping either Xavi or Iniesta would win the Ballon d’Or for Spain, especially since they won the World Cup. In fact, this is the only award that any Spanish player has not received, even Raul has not received this Golden Ball despite the fact that Real Madrid has won the Champions League 9 times because of his efforts. But if you listen to Xavi speak about it the winner is actually FC Barcelona because all three finalists wear the same sportswear uniform. As Xavi himself said, the the FIFA Ballon d'Or is a triumph for the philosophy of Barcelona. He says the nomination of three Blaugrana players as finalists for the 2010 Ballon d'Or is a moment to savour. It is a testament of the Blaugrana’s philosophy that helped their football club have three finalist in the 2010 Ballon d’Or.

Let’s just hope that things might change with Real Madrid especially since Mourinho also won as Men’s Coach of the Year. If that award is really given to a deservicg player and coach, there is still hope for Real Madrid this year.