It is 76 days until the presentation of the 2014 Fifa Ballon d’Or in Zurich and already the entire procedure has become a complete laughing stock following the announcement on Tuesday of the shortlist for the award.
The reputation of the trophy has been besmirched before by poor decision-making, and the latest panel have continued the trend by seemingly picking 23 names at random.
While there can be no doubting that the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Costa, Thomas Muller and Angel Di Maria deserve inclusion, the selection of Andres Iniesta and Eden Hazard leave the mouth agape.
Had there been no other realistic candidates then those additions may have been more understandable, but the exclusions of Luis Suarez and Xabi Alonso, amongst others, are utterly baffling.
Yes, Suarez has only recently returned from a four-month suspension, but this is meant to be a 12-month award. The only possible reason for his name not appearing amongst the 23 is by way of a reaction to the bite on Giorgio Chiellini which ended his World Cup. But the Ballon d’Or is a footballing prize, not a political statement.
Just as he sat out the first five games of the 2013-14 Premier League season because of a biting ban but later collected the Player of the Year award, Suarez has already been punished and should be given the opportunity to have his name attached to the golden prize.
And while it may be right to argue that he has not been among the best three players in the world in 2014, he certainly ranks among the top 23. His phenomenal campaign with Liverpool pushed Brendan Rodgers’ men to within a whisker of a first English title in 24 years, and the difference between that campaign and the current one is stark. Without Suarez, they are Premier League also-rans. With him, they could reach for the stars.
His form was magnificent throughout the first six months of 2014, and his extraordinary run of 10 goals in four games in December 2013 also deserves recognition given that they were scored after voting had closed for the 2013 Ballon d’Or. By netting twice for Uruguay against England despite having not played in five weeks through injury, he left everyone under no illusions as to just how good he is.
Very few players can claim to have matched the feats of Suarez or Alonso over the past 12 months, and certainly not Iniesta or Hazard.
The latter has only recently rediscovered his top form after a difficult beginning to 2014. He was unable to have a real impact on the second half of last season as Chelsea faded out of the Premier League title race, while at the World Cup he was expected to be Belgium’s go-to man but ended up flopping. He was even left appealing to the national press to remove the many ratings of less than four out of 10 that he had received in Brazil.
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