Ballon d'Or awards revisited by BigSoccer users

Yeah, that is a good and clear summary of what we just discussed by PM I think @IceBlood34 , and I feel that for example that way the votes of @wm442433 and the votes of @Titanlux are both fine as they are because in one way or another they do reflect a consideration of both the calendar year and the season (factoring in games/performances immediately preceding the calendar year). It is also not so different to how the original Ballon d'Or became - some people concentrated primarily on the season ended in the year concerned, and some were surely voting with more of a calendar year vote, and both ways were valid.

 

I did get my votes done as 'hybrid' ones (considering properly and fully both the season and calendar year together, over an 18 month period like you say) just for the period between 1981/82&1982 to 1999/00&2000 now (for the others I will continue working out my season-based order first, in the same way as before)

Revealed here (open) Revealed here (close)

1981/82 & 1982
1) Zico, 2) Michel Platini, 3) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, 4) Gaetano Scirea, 5) Paolo Rossi
1982/83 & 1983
1) Zico, 2) Michel Platini, 3) Kenny Dalglish, 4) Socrates, 5) Paulo Roberto Falcao
1983/84 & 1984
1) Michel Platini, 2) Jean Tigana, 3) Ian Rush, 4) Zico, 5) Alain Giresse
1984/85 & 1985
1) Michel Platini, 2) Diego Maradona, 3) Preben Elkjaer, 4) Bernd Schuster, 5) Zbigniew Boniek
1985/86 & 1986
1) Diego Maradona, 2) Gary Lineker, 3) Ruud Gullit, 4) Michael Laudrup, 5) Preben Elkjaer
1986/87 & 1987
1) Ruud Gullit, 2) Carlos Valderrama, 3) Diego Maradona, 4) Paulo Futre, 5) Gary Lineker
1987/88 & 1988
1) Marco van Basten, 2) Ruud Gullit, 3) Diego Maradona, 4) Franco Baresi, 5) Glenn Hoddle
1988/89 & 1989
1) Marco van Basten, 2) Franco Baresi, 3) Lothar Matthaus, 4) Dragan Stojkovic, 5) Romario
1989/90 & 1990
1) Lothar Matthaus, 2) Franco Baresi, 3) Marco van Basten, 4) Dragan Stojkovic, 5) Paul Gascoigne
1990/91 & 1991
1) Jean-Pierre Papin, 2) Dejan Savicevic, 3) Lothar Matthaus, 4) Claudio Caniggia, 5) Chris Waddle
1991/92 & 1992
1) Michael Laudrup, 2) Marco van Basten, 3) Hristo Stoichkov, 4) Dennis Bergkamp, 5) Thomas Hassler
1992/93 & 1993
1) Roberto Baggio, 2) Michael Laudrup, 3) Eric Cantona, 4) Romario, 5) Bebeto
1993/94 & 1994
1) Romario, 2) Roberto Baggio, 3) Paolo Maldini, 4) Gheorghe Hagi, 5) Jurgen Klinsmann
1994/95 & 1995
1) George Weah, 2) Dejan Savicevic, 3) Jurgen Klinsmann, 4) Jari Litmanen, 5) Paolo Maldini
1995/96 & 1996
1) George Weah, 2) Matthias Sammer, 3) Ronaldo, 4) Davor Suker, 5) Alan Shearer
1996/97 & 1997
1) Ronaldo, 2) Zinedine Zidane, 3) Gianfranco Zola, 4) Dennis Bergkamp, 5) Luis Figo
1997/98 & 1998
1) Ronaldo, 2) Dennis Bergkamp, 3) Zinedine Zidane, 4) Rivaldo, 5) Michael Owen
1998/99 & 1999
1) Andriy Shevchenko, 2) Luis Figo, 3) Rivaldo, 4) David Beckham, 5) Dwight Yorke
1999/00 & 2000
1) Luis Figo, 2) Zinedine Zidane, 3) Raul, 4) Andriy Shevchenko, 5) Fernando Redondo

 

There you go @IceBlood34 - you might have seen it already or been notified by Tom even but here's a link to the revised season-based full attempt of @Tom Stevens
Historic World Wide Balon d'Or 23 player short lists | Page 93 | BigSoccer Forum

Maybe Tom can clarify the 4th and 5th placings, if he had to call them (even by private message to you, or me would be fine too) and then you have a full set of votes. I was thinking that if a similar amount of people vote on a season basis, that do on a full calendar year (or original Ballon d'Or method) basis then including all of them would seem reasonable to reflect an 18 month assessment period. Maybe not exactly how the Ballon d'Or has ever been done, but for your purposes of picking out calls for the top players in each year (or the period around each year) and counting them up it does seem ok, given we'll have a mix of calendar year and season-based votes.

The votes of Tom and wm442433 could match off with one another for example in that respect. I might as well continue making combined 18 month attempts to offer as my votes, now I started (and it's better than voting twice with original and new method I think...especially as my first votes were not 100% towards calendar year quite exactly), but like you say that's one option in terms of how to vote that you are happy to accept, then there is full calendar year and full season-based too (or anywhere on the spectrum, in terms of emphasis on one over the other - wm's vote was not intended to strictly only consider calendar year I don't think as like he said Ballon d'Or voters did often look at what had come before over the start of the season and building up to the calendar year).

 

Not that I want to clog up this thread with too many videos or whatever, but I thought this video might be an interesting and helpful one potentially for people to see (even though in my 'hybrid' votes I didn't put Scifo in for either this period or around 1990 or any other actually, in terms of top 5 in the end, and I didn't really consider Vercauteren for that at all). It gives an idea for Enzo Scifo's 1984/85 (including when his most frequent and most impressive end product contributions were - so which ones add to his 1984 calendar year too) and also must have a lot of contributions from Franky Vercauteren, including many assists:
RSC ANDERLECHT ***SAISON 1984/1985 *** 18th league title - YouTube
I thought with it being relatively unknown and new footage it could be good to flag it up anyway (and potentially similar things like that). I don't know whether this is even the best thread, but I guess @PuckVanHeel , @wm442433 , @comme for example, and others might be interested to see it also....(I remember on wm442433's French league assists thread he'd revealed that Vercauteren was an assist leader one season, while as alluded to by me on this thread already Scifo was joint top with Waddle for 90/91 in that league too). The commentary should help with identifying Scifo when in doubt I think. Vercauteren should be recognisable as the left sided number 6 anyway I think (and captain with the armband it seems too).

 

I would say his new ranking is probably the most applicable for you (first because it is the latest one - he may have changed his mind on some things for example, but also because it is now comparing the same period of the 'season' for all players if I understand it correctly - before though he was already judging European based players club form on European seasons at least though anyway, not calendar year...except where there were examples of seasons in European countries that had a calendar year fixture list in particular seasons of course).

Maybe @Tom Stevens is another who will like to see the video I posted a couple of posts above too (not to change anything he posted in terms of his new 23 player lists already probably though!) - I remember you were interested in Georges Grun in terms of career before Tom and there are a handful of goals he helps set in motion I noticed on there (or a bit less than a handful perhaps strictly speaking). I know that despite being relatively familiar with him, and generally impressed when I saw him play I'd previously doubted whether you should categorise him as an all-time great (when you were wondering about some leftfield calls for that classification in one of your projects...like Katanec too) and whether for example at Parma he would have been one of the most key difference making players, but I would say that side to his game that can be glimpsed in those moments (the constructive side, bringing the ball forwards) is certainly a positive (less so than for some players, but while maybe not for long passing, for that kind of bringing the ball into midfield, and combination play with team-mates I might think he was better than say Van Dijk now). Frank Arnesen is another player featured - not with a big amount of goal contributions but some impressive/significant ones.

 

1956/2021

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

1956
1. Di Stéfano, 2. Kopa, 3. Puskas, 4. Julinho, 5. Ocwirk

1957
1. Di Stéfano, 2. Didi, 3. Kopa, 4. Julinho, 5. Edwards

1958
1. Pelé, 2. Kopa, 3. Didi, 4. Garrincha, 5. Fontaine

1959
1. Pelé, 2. Di Stéfano, 3. Kopa, 4.Charles, 5. Suarez

1960
1. Pelé, 2. Yashin, 3. Suarez, 4. Puskas, 5. Seeler

1961
1. Pelé, 2. Sivori, 3. Garrincha, 4. Suarez, 5. Haynes

1962
1. Garrincha, 2. Pelé, 3. Eusébio, 4. Masopust, 5. Spencer

1963
1. Pelé, 2. Rivera, 3. Amarildo, 4. Greaves, 5. Law

1964
1. Pelé, 2. Law, 3. Suarez, 4. Amancio, 5. Eusébio

1965
1. Pelé, 2. Eusébio, 3. Facchetti, 4. Suarez , 5. Mazzola

1966
1. Eusébio, 2. Charlton, 3. Beckenbauer, 4. Albert, 5. Moore

1967
1. Albert, 2. Charlton, 3. Beckenbauer, 4. Johnstone, 5. Gemmell

1968
1. Pelé, 2. Best, 3. Dzajic, 4. Charlton, 5. Beckenbauer

1969
1. Pelé, 2. Tostao, 3. Riva, 4. Rivera. 5. Cruyff

1970
1. Pelé, 2. Jairzinho, 3. Müller, 4. Gérson, 5. Rivelino

1971
1. Cruyff, 2. Mazzola, 3. Best, 4. Netzer, 5. Skoblar

1972
1. Cruyff, 2. Beckenbauer, 3. Müller, 4. Netzer, 5. Jairzinho

1973
1. Cruyff, 2. Müller, 3. Beckenbauer, 4. Deyna, 5. Zoff

1974
1. Cruyff, 2. Beckenbauer, 3. Neeskens , 4. Deyna, 5. Lato

1975
1. Blokhin, 2. Beckenbauer, 3. Breitner, 4. Cubillas, 5. Figueroa

1976
1. Beckenbauer, 2. Keegan, 3. Rensenbrink, 4. Zico, 5. Platini

1977
1. Simonsen, 2. Keegan, 3. Platini, 4. Bettega, 5. Zico

1978
1. Kempes, 2. Rensenbrink, 3. Krankl, 4. Bettega, 5. Dirceu G.

1979
1. Keegan, 2. Rummenigge, 3. Zico, 4. Maradona, 5. Krol

1980
1. Rummenigge, 2. Maradona, 3. Schuster, 4. Zico, 5. Platini

1981
1. Rummenigge, 2. Zico, 3. Maradona, 4. Breitner, 5. Schuster

1982
1. Rossi, 2. Falcao, 3. Socrates, 4. Giresse, 5. Boniek

1983
1. Platini, 2. Falcao, 3. Zico, 4. Socrates, 5. Dalglish

1984
1. Platini, 2. Tigana, 3. Giresse, 4. Elkjaer, 5. Chalana

1985
1. Maradona, 2. Platini, 3. Schuster, 4. Elkjaer, 5. Dassaev

1986
1. Maradona, 2. Careca, 3. Lineker, 4. Butragueño, 5. Burruchaga

1987
1. Gullit, 2. Maradona, 3. Futre, 4. Butragueño, 5. Michel

1988
1. Van Basten, 2. Gullit, 3. Maradona, 4. Stojkovic, 5. Rijkaard

1989
1. Van Basten, 2. Maradona, 3. Bebeto, 4. Romario, 5. Baresi

1990
1. Matthaüs, 2. Schilacci, 3. Maradona, 4. Gascoigne, 5. Brehme

1991
1. Papin, 2. Matthaüs, 3. Savicevic, 4. Waddle, 5. Prosinecki

1992
1. Stoïchkov, 2. Van Basten, 3. Bebeto, 4. Rai, 5. Bergkamp

1993
1. R. Baggio, 2. Bergkamp, 3. Romario, 4. Cantona, 5. Pelé

1994
1. Romario, 2. Stoïchkov, 3. R.Baggio, 4. Maldini, 5. Hagi

1995
1. Weah, 2. M. Laudrup, 3. Litmanen, 4. Zola, 5. Overmars

1996
1. Ronaldo, 2. Sammer, 3. Klinsmann, 4. Shearer, 5. Del Piero

1997
1. Ronaldo, 2. Zidane, 3. Del Piero, 4, Mijatovic, 5. R. Carlos

1998
1. Zidane, 2. Ronaldo, 3. Suker, 4. Rivaldo, 5. Bergkamp

1999
1. Rivaldo, 2. Beckham, 3. Shevchenko, 4. Raúl, 5. Figo

2000
1. Zidane, 2. Figo, 3. Totti, 4. Shevchenko, 5. Henry

2001
1. Figo, 2. Raúl, 3. Owen, 4. Beckham, 5. Totti

2002
1. Ronaldo, 2. Zidane, 3. Ballack, 4. R.Carlos, 5. Rivaldo

2003
1. Nedved, 2. Henry, 3. Nistelrooy, 4. Maldini, 5. Zidane

2004
1. Shevchenko, 2. Ronaldinho, 3. Deco, 4. Henry, 5. Adriano

2005
1. Ronaldinho, 2. Lampard, 3. Gerrard, 4. Henry 5. Shevchenko

2006
1. Cannavaro, 2. Zidane, 3. Ronaldinho, 4. Henry, 5. Eto'o

2007
1. Kaka, 2. C.Ronaldo, 3. Messi, 4. Pirlo, 5. Drogba

2008
1. C.Ronaldo, 2. Messi, 3. Torres, 4. Xavi, 5. Arshavin

2009
1. Messi, 2. Xavi, 3. Iniesta, 4. C.Ronaldo, 5. Eto'o

2010
1. Messi, 2. Iniesta, 3. Xavi, 4. Sneijder, 5. Forlan

2011
1. Messi, 2. C. Ronaldo, 3. Xavi, 4. Iniesta, 5. Rooney

2012
1. Messi, 2. C. Ronaldo, 3. Iniesta, 4. Pirlo, 5. Falcao

2013
1. Messi, 2. C. Ronaldo, 3. Robben, 4. Ribéry, 5. Ibrahimovic

2014
1. Messi, 2. C. Ronaldo, 3. Neuer, 4. Robben, 5. T. Müller

2015
1. Messi, 2. Neymar, 3. L. Suarez, 4. C. Ronaldo, 5. Lewandowski

2016
1. Messi, 2. L. Suarez, 3. Neymar, 4. C. Ronaldo, 5. Griezmann

2017
1. C. Ronaldo, 2. Messi, 3. Modric, 4. Neymar, 5. L. Suarez

2018
1. Messi, 2. Modric, 3. Griezmann, 4. Mbappé, 5. Salah

2019
1. Messi, 2. Van Dijk, 3. C. Ronaldo, 4. Mané, 5. Salah

2020
1. Neuer, 2. Lewandowski, 3. Messi, 4. De Bruyne, 5. Van Dijk

2021
1. Messi, 2. Salah, 3. Lewandowski, 4. Benzema, 5. Kanté




2010/2021 added.

Notes :
Initially had Suarez at #5 in 2011 but went for Rooney, like in the real ranking, which is fully understandable. Suarez is the 6th guy in 2014 too.
Van Persie is the 6th guy in 2013.
I wish Özil could have find his way to the top-5, in 2012, but he's at bay in company of Ibra (thougt about D. Silva too, who has no votes in the actual BO).
Kanté had too much opposition in the offensive sector to make the 5 in 2017. Thought about Ericksen for 2017 too. Otherwise it's the strikers of the actual BO, then, also, in 2017.
In 2020, I had Kanté at the 5th place when we voted for the Bigsoccer Ballon d'Or but it was very year-wise in my mind and also, I did not dare to say, but I felt that Chelsea had good chances against Atletico and then could well go all the way. So I was anticipating too much, because he did not always played then, but when he did... he transformed his teams as I said, and he even scored that goal against Portugal... anyway, he's replaced finally on this one. By Van Dijk (cited 3 times at the 5th place in that 2020 thread and that I did not have for he got injured at the start of the 2020-2021 season). And since the time he was deserving it, Kanté makes the 5 in 2021, like in the actual Ballon d'Or.

 

Scifo almost always wore the #4 shirt in that season.
Morten Olsen #10,
George Grün #3,
Luka Peruzovic #2
Hendrik Andersen #5
René Vandereycken #7
Erwin Vandenbergh #9
Alexandre Czerniatynski #10
Frank Arnesen #8
Franky Vercauteren as you said #6

Pretty loaded team. They scored over 100 goals that season in the 34 games league season.

 

Yeah, they did pretty well in European-wide cups around that time too, as well as the 70 of course. I know there have been questions about the referee in the 1984 semi-final, but whatever occured there Anderlecht were at least contending to put Forest out on merit and reach that Final where they lost to Tottenham on penalties and they had put out Spartak Moscow with Dasaev in goal of course, and then they had one win (although a heavy loss too) vs Real Madrid in this 1984/85 season and put out Bayern Munich in 1985/86 as you'll be aware too.

Yeah, it does seem like Scifo is wearing 4 all the time (or close to it) in 84/85 - sometimes the number wasn't visible on the video and an assister had similar hair I think, but mostly he can be identified (I'm not sure what % of Anderlecht's goals were on there though - I would have assumed quite a big one but it's not all of them I realise). I think there might be a good debate about who was the better Enzo in this period! Maybe also in the mid 90s too (although it seems more like Scifo had peaked before Francescoli had his best spell, back in Argentina, in terms of the 90s actually).

 

I'm not quite sure who else has done it so far comme (I guess Titanlux although of course the 2005 awards in general would have contributed in terms of what he was looking at, and Carlito maybe although I see he did rep your post; IceBlood himself perhaps, but anyway I'll not check and I'll try and give my thinking on it even though I hadn't set my season choices for 2000-2010 in stone as it were as yet, and was going to come back and do a Ballon d'Or style write-up for those too like with earlier seasons I did already; I was tending to think I might be looking at 5th place primarily in terms of changing something though I suppose like I mentioned before).

I can understand how it could be in question anyway, and can also understand how without focusing enough on the season in question it could be easy to just lump it in as part of the Ronaldinho era (in which he won major individual awards for both 2004 and 2005) which could under-play the end of 2003/04 and start of 2005/06. Probably at first glance it's not an individual season that jumps out in terms of end product stats especially (but the wider ones we get now like chances created, big chances created, successful 'dribbles' etc I assume are not available for that far back), and meanwhile Riquelme was given La Liga's Foreign Player of the Season award (though looking on DBS Calcio the ratings of him and Ronaldinho are shown to be very close; Forlan I think it was was given the Latin American La Liga Player of the Season award by another source I noticed interestingly).

I think though I'm still likely to put him 1st, and tend to think he was the best player around (although I know that that needs to be backed up by playing well enough often enough, in comparison to other contenders). Like I say we don't have those wider stats, but mostly the assists he had were high quality ones (and some of the goals certainly were), and he was both influencing Barcelona's build-up play and I think creating or helping to create quite a bit that wasn't converted (the suggestion I'm making is more than would be typical but that's where it's hard without those advanced stats to verify completely probably). I think he was the main talisman in terms of making things happen, and in games Barcelona lost even he made an impact that might seem more substantial if they hadn't lost. The game away in Madrid for example (not that it would be compared to the one of the following season or something):
Ronaldinho vs Real Madrid - Away - La Liga - 2004/2005 - Matchday 31 - YouTube
Real Madrid 4 x 2 Barcelona - Campeonato Espanhol 2004/2005 - YouTube
The memory fades a bit for the Chelsea game now, and there doesn't seem to be any Ronadinho video for that particular match, but he gets a good write-up (for things beyond the wonder goal too) here:
Chelsea 4-2 Barcelona: Remembering the night a blue blitz trumped Ronaldinho's wondergoal (90min.com)
The AC Milan game was a group stage one of course, but nevertheless that was a definite plus with the impressively taken game winning goal (and a chance creating quality slid pass shown here for example too)
Barcelona vs AC Milan 2-1 #UCL (2nd Leg) Group Stage 2004 -2005 (All Goals & Highlights) - YouTube
There is a comment on here saying "how many passes does Ronny have to make for his team-mates to score"
Ronaldinho vs Atlético Madrid - 04-05 [ roni TV ] - YouTube
which goes on to talk about the wider qualities he had too, which I suppose set him apart from most players at the time (not that more limited players can't be deemed to have better seasons).
It's definitely not like he was playing on an average team to be fair, but I do tend to think converting chances wasn't the number 1 forte of it (the likes of Xavi and Deco could score from outside the box but overall their forte was more passing and setting up attacks; Messi came through obviously and did already show he could finish....the noted lob goal was set up by Ronaldinho though for example with a nice scooped kind of pass....and Messi like I say was just emerging and wasn't the scoring machine of later, while Eto'o was definitely a star of the season, but maybe more because he could end up with a high amount of chances to score partly thanks to his own qualities, and less because of his finishing efficiency in terms of percentage of chances)
There are probably a lot of his performances available to see, but maybe this is a good one to pick out (albeit against a lesser team), with the trademark inventiveness (again not converted into a goal by the team-mate) shown at 5:39:
Ronaldinho vs Osasuna - 720p - 2004/2005 - Roni Tv - YouTube

I know you showed Sid Lowe only had him as a sub for La Liga XI. I'm not sure I saw Don Balon's team (has it been posted somewhere?), but this team which at first glance I thought might be Marca's but actually it's just a FoxSports one it seems does include him and there are comments about work-rate even, and general contribution (but Champions League games are clearly being factored in)
La Liga XI for 2004/05 | RedCafe.net

I suppose as well it's a matter of who could be placed ahead of him, all things considered, and while there are candidates maybe there's not a clear cut obvious one. I do feel like Thierry Henry still showed plenty that season, and maybe it's even just a bit more under the radar due to team success being less than a season earlier and suchlike, but there'd be question marks for him 1st too, and likewise Eto'o who I mentioned. Then Lampard of course could be in the mix (Robben might have been too if he'd played enough), from Chelsea. I'd have to look through all his assists of that season, but perhaps in quantity and even generally speaking quality he'd not be much worse off than Ronaldinho, though like I say Ronaldinho would be a different proposition in terms of manipulating the ball, taking players out the game with his skills, opening teams up, retaining possession with his skills and also actually because he was especially around that time quite robust too. I wouldn't say it'd be quite akin to choosing Neil Webb for 1986/87 over Maradona (and 1st Division teams weren't able to play European games either so that's different: the final positions in the league of Chelsea and Forest also different but less relevant in terms of individual performance and contribution maybe), but there's some element maybe of leaning towards the individual with greater capacity to open the game up, take players on individually, be 'different' to normal players etc (and as discussed Maradona's 1986/87 was not flawless or consistently brilliant, and in terms of the individual stuff it might even be there was less of that than Ronaldinho showed if just comparing the two seasons: Maradona didn't have a lot of narrow criteria goals/assists either, although that's in Serie A and he did have a lot of pre-assists himself that season).

Riquelme was obviously in a good spell as the La Liga award hints at, but I'd have doubts all in all about putting him over Ronaldinho, and there is Kaka as well as Shevchenko for example, but I'm not sure there's a clear case there for a brilliant whole season to clearly top what Ronaldinho did either (but I acknowledge these players I name, maybe others too, might not be dismissed vs him easily either, given the doubts about him that can be valid).

So I'm probably still likely to keep him top, but those are some hints as to why and what goes in his favour I suppose....

 

There is Opta data that has been posted many times in fact

League stats of the 2005 calendar year
Second half of 2004/05 and first half 2005/06


https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2358084/ronaldinho-better-than-lampard

To use someone as a reference who wasn't even whispered about as a ballon dor contender

Neymar 2020/21 ligue 1(season)
1417 minutes played(15.7 matches)
9 goals(0.57 per 90)
70 shots(4.45 per 90)
5 assists(0.32 per 90)
87 dribbles(5.5 per 90)
59 key passes(3.75 per 90)
916 total passes/729 accurate passes
80% pass accuracy
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/50835/History/Neymar
Whoscored avg rating 7.69
=


Not even in the conversation for the ballon dor
As in not even top 5,top 10 or top 15
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Ballon_d'Or

If you ask me that was egregious error to have him so low but then my opinion doesn't really matter when it comes to these things

How the media and wider footballing community( including his own country) treated neymar is disgraceful
Just because he doesn't smile as much and his teeth are more straight then Ronaldinho
The standards are comical








Ronaldinho 2005 la Liga (calendar year)

2997 minutes played(33.3 matches)
16 Goals (0.48 per 90)
107 shots(3.24 per 90)
9 assists(0.27 per 90)
69 key passes(2.07 per 90)
Total Pass completion=76%
= Ballon dor

Even if we put him in the 5 dribbles per 90 range (without evidence I might add) his performance is still inferior then the 16th place ballon dor positioned player of 2021


I remain to be convinced Ronaldinho was so much better in the champions League

He scored 2 non penalty goals in the 2004/05 CL edition
This with the freedom/ licence to shoot as much as anyone in that Barcelona team(bar Eto'o arguably)

The toe punt Vs Chelsea was an Iconic moment with alot of replay value and the one Vs Milan good(a solo goal of sorts I guess)
For me many more moments are required to define a season




There is nothing i could find regarding his chance creation stats but he wasn't dribbling at generational level for his era either for sure

82 - Lionel Messi has completed more dribbles in the CL this season than any other player since his debut. Magician. pic.twitter.com/hAtSfV872M

— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) June 6, 2015

 

Yeah, there are some things like that that pop up, but it's just not really possible to see everything for particular seasons (overall or by competition), like it is now with WhoScored and suchlike. Not that I'm necessarily keen on using such stats for conclusions or anything, on their own anyway, but while now it's possible to see how many chances were created and not taken etc for each season, for back then it's not.

A couple of things in Ronaldinho's favour in terms of verdicts at the time would be ESM inclusions (perhaps influenced a lot by Champions League, but La Liga was quite a well known and well watched league already of course, to an extent), and being voted UEFA Club Forward of the Year/season (though not overall top player, and again certainly that accolade would be influenced a lot by Champions League games). Statistically for Brazil actually he stacks up well, but that was in a top team and not necessarily with a hard fixture list, although they did win the Confederations Cup and his part in that adds something (probably contributing and playing his part well rather than playing absolutely outstandingly though in that tournament).

 

ESM is never consistently used here unfortunately

That aside

The la Liga MVP riquelme didn't even make ESM team of the season(only one team of the month inclusion)

Joe Cole even had more ESM team of the month selections(2)
One of those in April 2005( ironically the same month he had 1 goal+2 assists in the CL QF Vs Bayern Munich)

for that time I think more then anything it was influenced by champions League performances,reputation and iconic moments

The focus on League form wasn't as it is now
Which is why nobody really cared what Henry was doing against Leeds or Norwich in 2004 outside of the British press/media bubble

Nowdays those types of performances would have alot more value
much more in fact

 

Yeah, I think it was meant to factor in league form, and the journalists were expected to look into that as much as they could probably (the magazines picked probably had a focus beyond domestic football mainly - World Soccer an obvious example), but Champions League form would likely have weighed heavily (still would now to an extent though I'd think). Even looking at the 1994/95 team (though that was voted for after the season, not month by month) - Sammer, Klinsmann, Shearer, Michael Laudrup etc in and no George Weah for example reflects that it wasn't all about the Champions League, or European-wide competitions in general. Probably it's true that in 2004/05 the lack of focus on the Premier League compared to now might have cost Henry a bit though in terms of votes around Europe (although Lampard's own inclusions must owe plenty to the Premier League matches I'd think still).
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/missing-esm-team-of-the-month.1981639/page-4#post-35733034

 

So what else could the the consistent lack of appreciation for Henry's league performances be put down to

Racism?

Racism was more of a thing back then even amongst so called respected football personalities
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/oct/16/newsstory.sport3
Head coaches of major international teams with a ballon dor vote

 

I'm not completely sure, but perhaps consistency within each month in terms of making an impression on voters (because it's a month by month vote). I remember the Aragones/Reyes incident and controversy though (but I doubt there was much in the way of widespread racist prejudice against Henry, and he did get 43 nominations within the previous season (although an outlier for him and perhaps a lot of inclusions all came at similar times or something, such as when he had the performance vs Inter Milan, in the Champions League indeed), while only 11 during that one:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/missing-esm-team-of-the-month.1981639/page-4#post-39763433
The spreadsheet above has all nominations (a vote for a particular player for a particular month by a particular publication) - the numbers aren't comparable between years over the long-term though (from 95/96 to today) because more publications got included as time went on (I can't recall how aware you were of this thread Carlito, previously, if at all).

 

Hi mates.
PDG1978, IceBlood34, maybe I don't quite understand what the purpose of this thread is. I would like to participate but I really wouldn't want it to turn into a thread of endless discussions about specific players. Don't take this the wrong way, but if the ultimate goal is to make a sort of "Golden Ball" for each season, I would like to be able to collaborate as much as time allows me. In fact, while I have been working on the ranking of the best Spanish players, I have been making a parallel ranking for players of any nationality. It is true that I consider that this is an endless work, because more and more data is always arriving that force you to make multiple changes in what you have already done, but if you are interested, I can put the ratings of the seasons that I have more advanced (from 1920-21 to 1934-35). I can put the top 5, but I could also put what I can believe, intuit or deduce the elite of each season, something similar to the extraordinary works of Tom Stevens or ariaga, but without a limit of 23. I do not want to open a new thread with this nor do I want to enter into comparisons or discussions with anyone, so I do not feel like putting these lists in the thread in which Tom has done a phenomenal job of updating, which, no doubt, in my opinion has improved his previous version.
Let me know if I can help you with these lists, or if you just need the top 5 or if you are not interested in going that far back in time. Best regards.

 

Yes.

And yes.

 

Ok, if it is useful, I will start uploading lists as soon as possible, just to give my opinion. I'm sure it won't coincide with the ones others have, but it's also sure that we all will have forgotten to name or "discover" some player that someone else has included in his list.

 

Continuing with the season-based Ballon d'Or votes I was doing, with write-ups

1979/80 (open) 1979/80 (close)

1979/80
1) Zico, 2) Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, 3) Diego Maradona, 4) Jan Ceulemans, 5) Socrates
I give my verdict to Zico this time: impressive and incisive both for his club Flamengo, and in a Brazil shirt, including in the Copa America, he is a playmaker and goalscorer in one player. Rummenigge, the physically and technically gifted German, thrived throughout the season with his club as a scorer and attacking threat, and contributed well for his nation too, albeit not spectacularly in the European Championships. Maradona provides a rare unpredictable panache and continues to shine for Argentinos Juniors and also Argentina with whom he dazzled and Wembley and put in a display of quality and productiveness in Vienna for example. Ceulemans, the new Belgian star, has really broken through as a player who combines height and stamina very well with intelligence and quality: an impressive team player who can come up with some brilliant individual moments too. I give the final point to Socrates, the languid but perceptive Brazilian playmaker who scores many goals including some spectacular ones for Corinthians and has emerged as a Brazilian international too, though honourable mentions go to a pair from Tottenham Hotspur - Glenn Hoddle whose description for this season could parallel that I just gave to Socrates, except he is English, and Osvaldo Ardiles whose class as tenacious architect in the midfield has shone throughout the season, despite a hiatus from his national team.