Winner is announced tonight, 29 Nov, in Paris - the previous award had to be cancelled in 2020, due to 2020. WHO IS NOM'D? - Your guide to every woman on Ballon d'Or shortlist www.bbc.com/sport/live/football/58890962 With the rise of the Uefa Women's Champions League in popularity, there are 5 names from each of the finalists Barcelona and Chelsea: both national champions too. Previous runner-up, Lucy Bronze, puts Barça's Alexia Putellas at the pinnacle, and Alexia is widely tipped to win it. Plenty of names from the Olympics as well. Could it be..? "3 Canadian women up for soccer's Ballon d'Or for 1st time in award's history" (Sinclair, Lawrence, Fleming) - (CBC.ca) HOW DO THEY WIN? The international journalists' jury vote for their top 3 on these very specific factors: 1. Individual and collective performances during the year 2. Player class 3. Overall judgment of the player's career (...So, you could just save time and write "Vague platitudes".) And that's how they win! Interestingly, BarçaUniversal thinks it has sussed out the result, based on the TV schedule for tonight! If true, it could mean a double or even triple award for the club, including the men's junior prize. Yet, sadly, you'll recall, FC Barcelona withdrew from football in April, so of course they'll have to give them all back.
There have been a number of incarnations of female Footballer of the Year. The FIFA Women's Player of the Year from 2001-2015. The FIFA Best Women's Player 2016-2020. And the French awarded Ballon D'Or. You would be hard pressed to beat the resume of Ashley Lawrence - Olympic Gold, Champions semi and League Gold knocking out Lyon. And she rocked in all of them. None of the best player awards has ever gone to a black woman.
👸 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃@alexiaputellas @FCBfemeni #BallondOr pic.twitter.com/I1jtxZ5rZH— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 29, 2021 The 2021 Women's #ballondor ranking ⤵️2️⃣ @Jennihermoso / @FCBfemeni3️⃣ @samkerr1 / @ChelseaFCW4️⃣ @VivianneMiedema / @ArsenalWFC#ballondor pic.twitter.com/vJZRNsTAaf— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) November 29, 2021 The 2021 Women's #ballondor ranking ⤵️5️⃣ @liekemartens1 / @FCBfemeni6️⃣ @sincy12 / @ThornsFC7️⃣ @PernilleMHarder / @ChelseaFCW#ballondor pic.twitter.com/TW8A2hnTpo— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) November 29, 2021 The 2021 Women's #ballondor ranking ⤵️8️⃣ @AshleyLawrence / @PSG_Feminines9️⃣ Jessie Fleming / @ChelseaFCW🔟 @frankirby / @ChelseaFCW#ballondor pic.twitter.com/T427z2RqLq— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) November 29, 2021
Fleming over Kirby is hilarious, and Sinclair being that high is peculiar as well in my opinion. Maybe too simplistic, but I think just one match pretty much put Putellas and Hermoso over Kerr. The player who decided that match and helped out Barcelona big time in the semis was Martens, who finished 5th. (If Martens had tucked away that PK vs the USWNT, who knows where she might have finished in voting depending on how the Dutch fared vs Canada and Australia/Sweden?) Kerr had an elite, world class club campaign (and continues to do really well this season) and was equally great at the Olympics, a competition in which neither Putellas or Hermoso (of course not their fault) featured. I probably would have voted Kerr over Hermoso, but apart from that, not much fuss from me regarding the top 5.
North American players seems to get nominated or win based only on world competitions eg WC (Rapinoe) or Olympics hence Fleming and Sinclair. Europeans can win the award with club performance and/or CL performance.
I remember a goal from Alexia Putellas in the domestic league from quite a good mumber of years ago, when Barcelona wasn't a factor in Europe yet (6 or 7 years ago, maybe?), and at the time it gave me the feeling that a player that could score with a such incredible technique was sure something special. I couldn't imagine she would have won the Ballon d'Or some years down the road, though! Can anyone figure which goal I am talking about? If was a spectacular one where she had made an incredible trick in the box with both feet, by basically trapping the ball with one feet and kicking it ahead right away with the other feet. Sorry, I can't manage to describe it better, but maybe someone who's seen that goal too knows what I am talking about.
These Ballon d'Or results pretty much indicate the Olympics from now on is considered a second string tournament. Little more than a glorified Algarve Cup or something. In non-World Cup years it's all about the European club scene. Next year's Ballon d'Or winner is likely the MVP of the Euros.
Interesting viewpoint: https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-es...inted-by-lack-of-respect-given-to-womens-game On one hand great to recognize the women's game, on the other, still the little sister.
The Ballon'D'or is a freakin' joke. Miedema has been the best player in women's soccer by a freakin' mile for the last 3 years. She is a prolific goal scorer--scored a record 10 goals in the Olympics--and if she stays healthy will easily rack the most goals ever in women's soccer. Almost every year the award goes to a male player who....scores goals. But with the women they decide to give it a midfielder? The two Spanish players are good--but who were vital cogs in Barcelona's CL run last year? Answer: the two forwards--Martens and Graham-Hansen. Without those two there is no CL title. The fact that Miedema came in 4th is laughable. Also laughable: Fleming coming in 9th while Kirby was 10th. Absurd. Kirby has been a key player for an exceptional Chelsea team. Fleming is on the same team--and barely saw the field last year. She was on the bench! She scores 2 PK goals in the Olympics and gets more votes than a Chelsea star? One can only laugh. The voting is a joke.
I agree, but it certainly played a role in Miedema finishing way above Kirby and even Fleming finishing above Kirby. I think it was huge for Sinclair as well, but she also won the NWSL Shield with Portland. She’s a great leader, but I question how good she really was for both Canada and Portland this past year.
Well, just for this past year, I don’t agree regarding Miedema, but for the last three years, you definitely put forward a strong argument. Your points on Martens/Graham Hansen and Kirby vs Fleming are absolutely spot on.
People vote on big moments. Fleming was a key part of why Canada won Olympic gold. And the two goals she scored there are two than Kirby's goose egg. So that probably got factored in. And scoring in a Champions League final would have helped too, if it was in the net at the other end of the field.
Correct me if I'm wrong--but I believe public voting is a significant component of the Ballon d'Or. No award that involves popularity-contest-style voting as a component can be taken seriously. I believe Marta won this award for years, didn't she, a few times when she was well past her prime and there were far more deserving players. It is in fact a popularity contest vote.
Come on; Fleming played like 478 more minutes than Kirby at the Olympics. So many people, myself included, found it ridiculous that Rapinoe won it all for pretty much scoring PKs at the World Cup. That being said, she did score three non PK goals as well, and the USWNT at least didn't solely rely on PKs all the way through the knockout stages.
If Kirby couldn't even start for country in the Olympics that probably did her no favours as well. I think the reason Rapinoe won was brand power, she markets herself extremely well. She played pretty well too. Marta was a household name, easy to remember and a safe pick. It would be interesting to look at the voting all those years she won. What was the vote count amongst say the top 25 countries, of and the bottom 100.
Wasn't public voting a limited component? I wonder if the votes are published. I believe the votes for World Player of the Year were. Nothing like transparency to keep things honest.
Yes that was it! It was 8 years ago, even earlier than I had figured. Well, after all those years, I still feel the need to tribute a standing ovation to this goal!
I'll be provocative, but could it be that the quality that we've seen at these last Olympics wasn't actually so impressing? Or that most of the teams that shone there did it more through collective effort than through individual brilliance? i'll be sincere: if I am asked to recall a particular individual performance by a single player that could have somehow impressed me in Tokyo, I have a hard time coming up with it.
I hope none of the voting committee thought Kirby barely played because she wasn’t deemed good enough. I think she’s Great Britain’s best player; yes, I think she’s better than Little. Kirby was struggling with fitness/injury concerns from the get go at the Olympics.
Voting by journos selected by France Football. The FIFA best player award is voted by fans at 25% of the with NT manager at 25%, NT players 25% weight and journos 25%. You would have thought a Canadian player would have gone higher and Fleming could have been there but her club playing time was really small last season with Chelsea.
Like L'orange wrote, goal scorers stand out for these awards. (Putellas is one as well.) None of the top four goal scorers (Miedema, Kerr, White, and Banda) from the Olympics won a medal though. Blackstenius finished the tournament with 5 goals, but she doesn't play in one of the big name leagues.