With all of the Haaland vs Messi debate, would Haaland have been the first player to win the Ballon d’Or without having participated in the World Cup that year?
With all of the Haaland vs Messi debate, would Haaland have been the first player to win the Ballon d’Or without having participated in the World Cup that year?
I don’t know. But the World Cup is a tiny percentage of the games. The Ballon d’or is an individual award. It’s not his fault he plays for a team that can’t qualify for the World Cup. Do we just say that the best player for the World Cup winners automatically get the Ballon d’or in future despite whether or not they are that good for the rest of the year? If the penalty shoot out had gone the other way would it have been Mbappe that got the Ballon d’or? 🤷♂️