Like beauty, world’s best player is in the eyes of the beholder

Lionel Messi

Paris Saint-Germain's Argentine forward Lionel Messi poses after being awarded the the Ballon d'Or award during the 2021 Ballon d'Or France Football award ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris on November 29, 2021.
FRANCK FIFE / AFP

Photo credit: Franck Fife | AFP

What you need to know:

  • So you noisy KOT, rather than rant and rave about someone else’s choice, pick your alternative list. Don’t even justify it. It is your choice after all.
  • Psst! Who is the greatest football player of all time? Pele or Maradona? Many younger football fans reckon it is either Messi or Ronaldo.

KOT (Kenyans On Twitter) can be nasty. Not all, but many of them.

They attack you without cause. They argue without facts. They criticize without reason.

They expose their ignorance without prejudice. And they feel nothing about it.

I was on the receiving end of this selected unsavory lot last week for my choices for the 2021 Ballon d’Or awards.

For the record, I voted for Robert Lewandowski, N’golo Kante, Kevin De Bruyne, Giorgio Chiellini, Lionel Messi in that order.

Some questioned why I put Messi, who won the award, low down in my picks, while others wondered how Ronaldo did not make my final picks. To that I retort, why not Jorginho, or Phil Foden, or Karim Benzema, or Leonardo Bonucci, or Erling Haaland, or Romelu Lukako, or Mohamed Salah, or Kylian Mbappe, or Riyad Marez? I could go on.

One Kenyan on Twitter agonized over how I even included Chiellini in my submissions.

Other reactions do not deserve to be repeated here but I will write them anyway.

“Shame on you”, one reprimanded. “You are embarrassing the country. We need a new voter”, another admonished. “Stick to rugby” I was sharply advised.

Don’t they get it! The award is not a popularity contest where the jurists pick the most adored football player in the world or most followed.

Neither is it scientific, otherwise there would be no need of having journalists voting. A winner would simply be selected based on some mathematical formula encompassing goals scored, assists, length of field covered, balls won, clean sheets kept, trophies won etc etc.

For the uninformed, the Ballon d’Or is an association football award that is bestowed to the best player in the world by French Football magazine. It was started in 1956, originally as a European Footballer of the Year award.

For the 2021 award a panel of 180 sports journalists from around the world voted including yours truly.

Initially, French Football selected a shortlist of 30 players that they forward to the panel to pick their best five in ascending order.

The first choice is awarded six points, second choice four points, third choice three points, fourth choice two points and fifth choice one point.

All the selections are then aggregated and the player who earns the most points is declared the winner.

There are three guiding principles in making our choices. One, individual and team performance for that season.

Two, talent and sportmanship of the player. Three, the player’s overall career.

I picked Lewondowski for the following reasons:

He guided Bayern Munich to yet another Bundesliga title, scoring a record 41 goals that eclipsed the great Gerd Müller's previous Bundesliga record of 40 goals, set in 1971–72.

Lewondowski was the top scorer in Europe in all competitions and the season was his most successful in a glittering two-decade career, earning him Bundesliga Player of the Season award.

The Pole also won the German Super Cup, Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup. I can’t remember him getting a red or yellow card. He was my first choice even before France Football mailed me the abridged list of nominees. Still is.

In Europe, Messi only won the Spanish Copa Del Rey, the equivalent of the FKF Cup in Kenya, in 2021.

The selection of old workhorse Chiellini, who turned 37 on August 14, just appealed to me.

The no-nonsense defender captained Italy to the Euro 2020 crown as the Azzurri claimed only their second continental diadem.

He formed an almost impregnable central-defence pairing with Bonucci, and deservedly earned the best defender of the tournament gong.

He added the Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup to his 2021 wreath despite injury problems. What a fighter.

I could not help smiling in admiration at Chiellini’s decision to retire in 2018 and then accepting his country’s call to represent the Azzurri as their new captain 

He became the oldest player to appear for Italy at the European Championships, at the age of 36 years, 301 days, on June 11 during their opening match against Turkey that they won 3-0.

Last year he released his autobiography “Io, Giorgio” – “I, Giorgio”. And guess what? The profits from the book’s sales went to a charity fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Good stuff “old man”!

Others felt otherwise. Clearly, just like we vote in national elections, our choices are decidedly subjective.

If our very own Michael Olunga had been included in the initial 30-player shortlist I would certainly have picked him amongst my five choices.

Here is why. He won the J1 League MPV and Golden Boot award with Kashiwa Reysol in 2020 before moving to Qatari top side Al-Duhail where he wrote history by top scoring in the Asian Champions League with nine goals from six matches played.

He is Harambee Stars’ leading scorer. But remember the Ballon d’Or is Eurocentric for obvious reasons.

So you noisy KOT, rather than rant and rave about someone else’s choice, pick your alternative list. Don’t even justify it. It is your choice after all.

Psst! Who is the greatest football player of all time? Pele or Maradona? Many younger football fans reckon it is either Messi or Ronaldo.