Organizers of the most prestigious individual award for football players, France Football have announced that the trophy will not be presented to anyone this year due to set back in football activities occasioned by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The France based body said it has canceled this year awards due to lack of sufficient fair conditions making year 2020 the first time the ceremony will not be staged since inception in 1956.
This leaves top players who have performed extremely well during 2019/20 campaign in big disappointment as they have been tipped as frontiers and obvious winners of the award.
Robert Lewandowski will be the most affected as his performance this season seem to be the closest to bagging the prize. The Polish international won the German Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, led Europes, German League and German Cup goal chart, became the first non-German player with most goal in a Bundesliga season among other achievement.
Regular recipients Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who have been crowned six and five times respectively will see the sad news as a blessing in disguise to stage a non-debatable performance that is worthy of winning the award next year following the shortcoming they suffered this season.
The statement on France Football official website said: “For the first time in its history, which began in 1956, the Ballon d’Or will not be awarded in 2020, due to the lack of sufficient fair conditions.
“Messi and Rapinoe (as well as [Mattijs] de Ligt and Alisson, winners of the Kopa and Yachine Trophies [for young player and goalkeeper]) will have to wait a year. The winners of the last edition will have no successors at the end of the year. Because there will be no Ballon d’Or 2020 edition.
“Why? Because such a singular year cannot – and should not – be treated as an ordinary year. When in doubt, it is better to abstain than to persist.
“Because the Ballon d’Or trophy conveys other values – like exemplarity, solidarity and responsibility – rather than merely sporting excellence alone.
“Because the fairness that prevails for this honorary title could not be preserved, in particular at the statistical level and also in the preparation since all the aspirants to the award could not be rightly compared, some having seen their season cut radically short, others not. So how can we compare the incomparable?
“Because of our approximately 220 jurors (men and women combined) distributed around the world, some may have been distracted or diverted from their observation due to other priorities and emergencies to manage.
“We did not want to put an indelible asterisk on the prize list like ‘trophy won in exceptional circumstances due to the Covid-19 health crisis’. We will always prefer a small sprain to our history to a large scar.
“This is the first time since 1956 that the Ballon d’Or has taken a break. The situation does not enchant us but seems to us the most responsible and logical decision. Protecting the credibility and legitimacy of such an award also means protecting it over time.
“The Ballon d’Or story is too precious to take the risk of damaging it with a wobbly exercise. In these turbulent times, taking a break is a luxury and an invaluable necessity. So that football, as a whole, regains momentum, passion and emotion.”
