Fern9do
25-11-2008, 01:20 PM
here's a post I wrote on my blog after finally finding out how this works!:)
The voting for Europe’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or will start this month and while many feel that Ronaldo will win it by a mile a closer look into how the winner is chosen makes for some interesting reading.
Ronaldo has the stats to back him up after scoring 42 goals in all competitions last season but after arrogantly claiming to be number1, 2 and 3 in the world the Portuguese star my be in for a surprise when the winner is announced in December.
The award is organised by France Football magazine and the jury consists of 96 correspondents for the magazine from all over the world, with majority of them (56 to be exact) based in Europe.
Each of the judges will receive a list of 50 names from Paris and everybody who’s been anybody in 2008 will be included on the list.
“Please make your selection of the world’s best five footballers for this calendar year in order of merit” the editor will write.
Four criteria apply:
1) Combination of individual and collective performance throughout the year.
2) Talent and sportsmanship
3) Career
4) Personality and impact
Each first choice earns five points, down to one point for the player chosen in 5th place. Totals are then tallied and the winner is announced at a grand ceremony in Paris that has been compared to being the Oscars for footballers.
So that’s the process in a nutshell and maybe it’s just me but I don’t think Ronaldo is the clear cut favourite that I once thought she was.
A big thank you to Paul Kelly for shedding some light on the process, Paul Kelly is an Irish journalist for FourFourTwo magazine and together with Irish sports broadcaster Jimmy Magee forms part of the Republic of Ireland jury.
The voting for Europe’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or will start this month and while many feel that Ronaldo will win it by a mile a closer look into how the winner is chosen makes for some interesting reading.
Ronaldo has the stats to back him up after scoring 42 goals in all competitions last season but after arrogantly claiming to be number1, 2 and 3 in the world the Portuguese star my be in for a surprise when the winner is announced in December.
The award is organised by France Football magazine and the jury consists of 96 correspondents for the magazine from all over the world, with majority of them (56 to be exact) based in Europe.
Each of the judges will receive a list of 50 names from Paris and everybody who’s been anybody in 2008 will be included on the list.
“Please make your selection of the world’s best five footballers for this calendar year in order of merit” the editor will write.
Four criteria apply:
1) Combination of individual and collective performance throughout the year.
2) Talent and sportsmanship
3) Career
4) Personality and impact
Each first choice earns five points, down to one point for the player chosen in 5th place. Totals are then tallied and the winner is announced at a grand ceremony in Paris that has been compared to being the Oscars for footballers.
So that’s the process in a nutshell and maybe it’s just me but I don’t think Ronaldo is the clear cut favourite that I once thought she was.
A big thank you to Paul Kelly for shedding some light on the process, Paul Kelly is an Irish journalist for FourFourTwo magazine and together with Irish sports broadcaster Jimmy Magee forms part of the Republic of Ireland jury.