Good question. Henry had a wondeful season with EPL and Confed cup - but too bad his team did not do well in UCL As talent alone, I rate Henry slightly over Nedved, but the prize is for season or calendar year = with WC/Euro and UCL pose big weight to the voters! Like it or not ... Nedved won it in 2003 like Kaka won it in 2007- for his UCL last few great games
The Ballon D'Or is really interesting because, like you said, the UCL, UEFAs, and WC count waaay out of proportion to anything else in the voting. There was a big push for Ribery one year because Bayern won the UCL, when in reality it had to be Messi or Ronaldo as they are clearly the two best players in the world. On Henry/Nedved, I genuinely didn't know, so thanks for the info.
Note I mention Nedved 2003 , and Kaka 2007 = similar case of ODD year (no WC nor Euro) so UCL/UEFA is a heavy weight criterion. But in 2003: while Nedved won Ballon Dor, Zidane won WPOY or lke 2001 (another ODD year: Owen won Ballon Dor but Figo won WPOY . Now for Ribery vs Messi/CR7 is another scenario: FIFA and Ballon Dor combined into one. \ IF, WPOY and Ballon Dor were still separate, in that year 2013 Ribery would have won BallonDor while CR7 (or Messi?) would win WPOY
Zidane (98) Most undeserving, he won it because of 1 game. Given it was a world cup final but '98 belonged to Ronaldo. Hell Zidane wasn't even the best french player that year, that accolade belonged to Thuram. Wasn't even the best Juve player. Should of been Ronaldo, Thuram, sukar. Owen (01) This was Totti's ballon d'or. Hands down, should have been his no debate. Ronaldo (02) This year belong to Ballack, he was amazing for club and country. Carried his team Leverkusen to a CL & a weak germany to a WC. But like Zidane in 98, Cannavaro in '06 the world cup decided it. The worst player out of them is Owen, most undeserving is probably Owen too. But Zidane and Ronaldo deserve honourable mentions for undeserving not because they were poor but because they weren't the best in that particular year.
Agree! Owen + Canavaro were among the worst ever to have won the title! 1998 belonged to Ronaldo- no doubt and very clear. 2001: it was a share between Rivaldo, Owen, Fifo and Totti! (no clear best player) ! 2002: it was a share with many Rivaldo, Raul , Henry, Zidane and Ballack = unclear case. So R9 came back (from 2,5 years in hospital) won his Ballon Dor for "redemption " (98) 2006: belonged to Ronaldinho and henry no doubt! Canavaron won it for FIFA mission: a DF should finally deserve some chance! Kahn was very close in 2002 for same mission (of GK) but he was beaten by R9 in the final WC = obvious case!
I honestly thought if any player was Totti's rival for the award in '01 it would of been Valeron. There's a case for a few players in 2002, just personally Ballack was a beast...it was a tragedy he wasn't allowed to play in the WC final. Only 1 I disagree with is Zidane he was struggling in 2002 for madrid but scored that wonder goal in the CL final. 2006 should of been Ronaldinho's award too. Cannavaro was involved in the shit with match fixing where they found enough evidence to strip a team of their titles and relegate them but thought Cannavaro played well during the fixed games? Zidane came 2nd when he was past it and played poor for madrid, the occasional show of magic but rarely. There was calls in France for him to be dropped in the group games all the way leading up to the brazil game. Also missed half a year after he retired. Just like '98 he got a lot of credit through 1 game but unlike '98 he cost them the WC whereas in '98 he was only sent off in a group match.
mmm Valeron had a good season, but the serious contender for 2001 was RIVALDO , then Figo , then Raul ... beside Totti
Henry has a strange relationship with these accolades. The craziest case was obviously when he didn't even finish top 3 in 2004, when the winner, Shevchenko, did not do any better in the UCL (both got knocked out in the quarter-finals), didn't play in the EURO, and scored less goals than Henry. Shevchenko, interesting, wasn't even voted the best player in the Serie A that season. Yet, in the same year, Henry easily beat Shevchenko in the FIFA WPotY award, but lost to Ronaldinho by a mere 72 points (most years the winner blows out by hundreds of votes). 2003 was also a strange year. Zidane won the FIFA award, but didn't even place top 3 in Ballon d'Or voting. The opposite was true for Nedved who won the Ballon d'OR but didn't place top 3 in the FIFA award. Henry finished 2nd place in both. So the journalists completely disagreed with the coaches and captains on who was the best player in 2003, but they could all gree Henry was the 2nd best
O pior com certeza foi Rossi em 1982, mas não é um absurdo tão grande quando vemos o quanto a Copa do Mundo sempre interferiu nas votações da temporada. Campanhas médias se tornam espetaculares se o jogador tem uma boa copa do mundo ... O vencedor dos anos depende, vamos considerar quem jogou na América do Sul com o mesmo peso dos europeus?
Voted for Owen always felt he basically won the award based on one game against Germany and it wasn't even in a major tournament it was a qualifier. Although Belanok does seem like another undeserving winner. Don't agree with Sammer being mentioned was great in Euro 96, won the league and cup that year and was instrumental in all of those.
How about the guy in your avatar? It's interesting to note that Ronaldo and Zidane actually played against each other in both the main club and international titles that year, and in both cases, Ronaldo was voted the best player. Ronaldo was voted Serie A best player, despite Zidane winning the Serie A. Ronaldo was voted World Cup 1998 best player, despite Zidane winning the World Cup. I believe Ronaldo also won UEFA Cup Player of the Year, but Zidane was playing in the UCL that year. Zidane won the individual accolades that were voted for after the final of the World Cup.
Yes that's true actually, I remember Ronaldo being voted best player in each of the tournaments they both competed in that year, so I was a bit confused why Zidane won it by a landslide vote. Had Ronaldo won it that year, he would've finished his career with 4 FIFPRO POTY awards, third most in the post 1990s period.