Either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo has been awarded the top soccer honor every year since 2008. The FIFA Ballon d’Or is the top individual soccer prize in the world, and with the new France Football and FIFA merger, major changes are coming.
In a stunning announcement, FIFA has stated that fans will now have a say in the new winner. A brief statement read: “The Best FIFA Football Awards will not only be the game’s highest honour for coaches and footballers, but also a celebration in which football fans will play a vital and active part.” Previously, only team captains, coaches and media votes were counted.
FIFA has been dubbed the “most corrupt sports league in the world,” so it’s not very surprising that they would open things up to a fan vote to help clean their image. Weather this works or not remains to be seen. Messi and Ronaldo are by far the two most popular players in the world, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they battle it out once again for the top spot.
FIFA also stated that:
“A total of eight trophies will be presented at The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony”
The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2016
The Best FIFA Women’s Player 2016
The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 2016
The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2016
The FIFA Puskás Award 2016
The FIFA Fair Play Award 2016
The FIFA Fan Award 2016
FIFA FIFPro World 11
It will be interesting to see how many votes notable players such as Luis Suarez, Neymar, and Antoine Griezmann receive. Those three are all very deserving of the prize along with Messi and Ronaldo. Regardless of who wins the prestigious honor, more than likely it looks like a La Liga player will take the award yet again.
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