Ballon d'Or awards revisited by BigSoccer users

TOP 1958-59

1.- Di Stefano (Argentina)
2.- Pelé (Brasil)
3.- Didi (Brasil)
4.- Luis Suárez (España)
5.- Kopa (Francia)

6.- Santamaría (Uruguay), 7.- Garrincha (Brasil), 8.- Santos, Djalma (Brasil), 9.- Angelillo (Argentina), 10.- Julinho (Brasil), 11.- Charles (Gales), 12.- Puskas (Hungría), 13.- Tichy (Hungría), 14.- Altafini (Brasil), 15.- Fontaine (Francia), 16.- Liedholm (Suecia), 17.- Mouriño (Argentina), 18.- Pepe (Brasil), 19.- Segarra (España), 20.- Sanfilippo (Argentina), 21.- Zito (Brasil), 22.- Yashin (URSS), 23.- Gento (España), 24.- Simonsson (Suecia), 25.- Gorocs (Hungría), 26.- Pizzuti (Argentina), 27.- Quarentinha (Brasil), 28.- Ramallets (España), 29.- Belén, Raúl (Argentina), 30.- Silveira (Uruguay), 31.- Charlton (Inglaterra), 32.- Paulinho Valentim (Brasil), 33.- Rahn (Alemania), 34.- Castilho (Brasil), 35.- Coutinho (Brasil), 36.- Szymaniak (Alemania), Evaristo (Brasil), 38.- Dorval (Brasil), 39.- Grosics (Hungría), 40.- Seminario (Perú), 41.- Vavá (Brasil), 42.- Voinov (URSS), 43.- Haynes (Inglaterra), 44.- Sosa, Rubén Héctor (Argentina), 45.- Kolev (Bulgaria), 46.- Bundzsak (Hungría), 47.- Wright, Billy (Inglaterra), 48.- Seeler (Alemania), 49.- Corbatta (Argentina), 50.- Loayza (Perú), 51.- Montuori (Italia), 52.- Bellini (Brasil), 53.- Hamrin (Suecia), 54.- Chinesinho (Brasil), 55.- Kostic (Yugoslavia), 56.- Hof (Austria), 57.- Sandor (Hungría), 58.- Tejada (España), 59.- Vincent (Francia), 60.- Lojacono (Italia), 61.- Maldini, Cesare (Italia), 62.- Gregg (Irlanda del Norte), 63.- Piantoni (Francia), 64.- Juskowiak (Alemania).

1.- DI STÉFANO, Alfredo (Argentina)

2.- PELÉ (Brasil)

3.- DIDI (Brasil)

4.- SUÁREZ, Luis (España)

5.- SANTAMARÍA, José (Uruguay)


6.- GARRINCHA (Brasil), 7.- DJALMA SANTOS (Brasil) 8.- ANGELILLO, Antonio (Argentina) 9.- JULINHO (Brasil) 10.- KOPA, Raymond (Francia) 11.- CHARLTON, Bobby (Inglaterra), 12.- PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungría), 13.- FONTAINE, Just (Francia), 14.- TICHY, Lajos (Hungría), 15.- LIEDHOLM, Nils (Suecia), 16.- SEGARRA, Joan (España), 17.- ALTAFINI, José (Brasil) 18.- MOURIÑO, Eliseo (Argentina), 19.- PEPE (Brasil), 20.- Charles, John (Gales), 21.- SANFILIPPO, José (Argentina) 22.- Zito (Brasil), 23.- GÖRÖCS, János (Hungría), 24.- YASHIN, Lev (Unión Soviética), 25.- Haynes, Johnny (Inglaterra), 26.- RAMALLETS, Antonio (España), 27.- WRIGHT, Billy (Inglaterra), 28.- GENTO, Francisco (España), 29.- Pizzuti, Juan José (Argentina), 30.- QUARENTINHA (Brasil), 31.- MONTUORI, Miguel (Italia), 32.- BELÉN, Raúl (Argentina), 33.- HAMRIN, Kurt (Suecia), 34.- Silveira, Alcides (Uruguay), 35.- Paulinho Valentim (Brasil), 36.- SIMONSSON, Agne (Suecia), 37.- CASTILHO, Carlos José (Brasil), 38.- KOSTIC, Bora (Yugoslavia), 39.- HOF, Erich (Austria), 40.- Sandor, Karoly (Hungría), 41.- COUTINHO (Brasil) , 42.- Rahn, Helmut (Alemania), 43.- TEJADA, Justo (España), 44.- VINCENT, Jean (Francia), 45.- EVARISTO (Brasil), 46.- DORVAL (Brasil), 47.- SEMINARIO, Juan (Perú), 48.- Lojacono, Francisco (Italia), 49.- VAVÁ (Brasil), 50.- SOSA, Rubén (Argentina), 51.- MALDINI, Cesare (Italia), 52.- GREGG, Harry (Irlanda del Norte), 53.- Szymaniak, Horst (Alemania), 54.- Grosics, Gyula (Hungría), 55.- CORBATTA, Omar (Argentina), 56.- LOAYZA, Miguel (Perú), 57.- PIANTONI, Roger (Francia), 58.- Seeler, Uwe (Alemania), 59.- Juskowiak, Erich (Alemania), 60.- Voinov, Yuri (URSS), 61.- Kolev, Ivan (Bulgaria), 62.- Bellini (Brasil), 63.- CHINESINHO (Brasil), 64.- Bundzsak, Dezso (Hungría).

XI IDEAL

Yashin; Djalma Santos, Santamaría, Segarra; Liedholm, Zito; Garrincha, Didi, Di Stefano, Pelé, Pepe

 

I believe you are missing a few names of Soviet footballers from the 1940s and early 1950s. At least three players deserve to be on the longlist. They were Vsevolod Bobrov in 1947 and 1948 (his best season), the most talented Dinamo Moscow player of the postwar years, right wing forward Vasily Trofimov in 1947 and maybe 1950, and Igor Netto in 1953 and 1954.
I believe they fulfil the basic criteria:

1) Bobrov was unequivocally recognised by his contemporaries as the best player of the second half of the forties in the Soviet Union. Even in 1952, already after a serious injury, he was scoring for Grosics and Beara, the best goalkeepers of his time.

2) Trofimov was Dynamo's main star. And if injury prevented him from shining in Dinamo's famous England tour in 1945, he made a huge impression in the Scandinavian tour of 1947, when Dinamo defeated very strong Swedish clubs Norrköping (5-1) and Gothenburg (5-1), where played Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm.

3) Igor Netto was the best of Spartak when it built up a reputation as a powerful club after 1953 and 1954 victories over Rapid Vienna with Hanappi, Dienst and Probst (4-0), Anderlecht with Mermans (7-0), Arsenal (2-1) and a tough game against the great Honved with Bozsik, Kocsis, Puskas and Czibor (2-3).

 

Thank you, my colleague. I will gladly review those years and consider your suggestions. Best regards.

 

I did suggest I could consider a change of two here, but since I'm voting with an 18 month perspective (season and calendar year) now, and since I don't think it's worthwhile really doing 'Season Ballon d'Or' write-ups for these more recent seasons, I'll go straight to those votes, as set out in the spoiler below:

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

2000/01 & 2001
1) Luis Figo, 2) Zinedine Zidane, 3) Francesco Totti, 4) Andriy Shevchenko, 5) Cafu

2001/02 & 2002
1) Zinedine Zidane, 2) Ronaldinho, 3) Ruud van Nistelrooy, 4) Robert Pires, 5) Roberto Carlos

2002/03 & 2003
1) Zinedine Zidane, 2) Thierry Henry, 3) Pavel Nedved, 4) Ronaldo, 5) Patrick Vieira

2003/04 & 2004
1) Thierry Henry, 2) Andriy Shevchenko, 3) Ronaldinho, 4) Kaka, 5) Deco

2004/05 & 2005
1) Ronaldinho, 2) Thierry Henry, 3) Samuel Eto'o, 4) Frank Lampard, 5) Kaka

2005/06 & 2006
1) Kaka, 2) Fabio Cannavaro, 3) Ronaldinho, 4) Miroslav Klose, 5) Thierry Henry

2006/07 & 2007
1) Kaka, 2) Cristiano Ronaldo, 3) Lionel Messi, 4) Clarence Seedorf, 5) Francesco Totti

2007/08 & 2008
1) Cristiano Ronaldo, 2) Lionel Messi, 3) Fernando Torres, 4) David Villa, 5) Andrey Arshavin

2008/09 & 2009
1) Lionel Messi, 2) Andres Iniesta, 3) Xavi, 4) Samuel Eto'o, 5) Xabi Alonso

 

I have scrupulously analyzed the changes you suggested, which has taken me a long time, because I have indeed had to make several changes. If you don't mind, to make it easier for me, please let me know your suggestions as soon as possible after I publish the list. The changes to the exposed lists do not substantially modify things, but I have considered the following reasonable:
* Bobrov enters 33rd in 1947-48.
* Simonyan enters 53rd in 1948-49, 53rd in 1949-50 and 41st in 1952-53.
* Trofimov comes 55th in 1949-50.
* Ilyin entered 48th in 1953-54.
* Meskhi entered 65th in 1959-60 and 78th in 1961-62.
* Voronin entered 74th in 1960-61.
* Netto entered 72nd in 1962-63.
* Chislenko entered 74th in 1962-63.

 

To make it easier to accumulate votes, here is the short list of all the seasons of the 1950s.

DÉCADA 50,S

TOP 1950-51

1.- NORDAHL, Gunnar (Suecia)
2.- OCWIRK, Ernst (Austria)
3.- MILBURN, Jackie (Inglaterra)
4.- LIEDHOLM, Nils (Suecia)
5.- GREN, Gunnar (Suecia)

TOP 1951-52

1.- PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungría)
2.- KOCSIS, Sándor (Hungría)
3.- KUBALA, László (Hungría)
4.- BOZSIK, József (Hungría)
5.- WRIGHT, Billy (Inglaterra)

TOP 1952-53

1.- PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungría)
2.- HIDEGKUTI, Nándor (Hungría)
3.- KOPA, Raymond (Francia)
4.- LOFTHOUSE, Nat (Inglaterra)
5.- JULINHO (Brasil)

TOP 1953-54

1.- KOCSIS, Sándor (Hungría)
2.- WALTER, Fritz (Alemania)
3.- PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungría)
4.- BOZSIK, József (Hungría)
5.- SCHIAFFINO, Juan Alberto (Uruguay)

TOP 1954-55

1.- DI STÉFANO, Alfredo (Argentina)
2.- KOPA, Raymond (Francia)
3.- KOCSIS, Sándor (Hungría)
4.- SCHIAFFINO, Juan Alberto (Uruguay)
5.- VUKAS, Bernard (Yugoslavia)

TOP 1955-56

1.- Di Stefano (Argentina)
2.- Kopa (Francia)
3.- Julinho (Brasil)
4.- Wright, Billy (Inglaterra)
5.- Matthews (Inglaterra)

TOP 1956-57

1.- Di Stefano (Argentina)
2.- Sívori (Argentina)
3.- Didi (Brasil)
4.- Edwards (Inglaterra)
5.- Wright, Billy (Inglaterra)

TOP 1957-58

1.- Pelé (Brasil)
2.- Didi (Brasil)
3.- Kopa (Francia)
4.- Garrincha (Brasil)
5.- Rahn (Alemania)

TOP 1958-59

1.- Di Stefano (Argentina)
2.- Pelé (Brasil)
3.- Didi (Brasil)
4.- Luis Suárez (España)
5.- Kopa (Francia)

TOP 1959-60

1.- PUSKÁS, Ferenc (Hungría)
2.- SUÁREZ, Luis (España)
3.- DI STÉFANO, Alfredo (Argentina)
4.- PELÉ (Brasil)
5.- SEELER, Uwe (Alemania)

 

XI,s DECADA

XI 1950-51

Zeman; Ramsey, Happel, Horvat; Ocwirk, Liedholm; Finney, Gren, Nordahl, Wilkes, Nyers

XI 1951-52

Beara; Djalma Santos, Happel, García Pérez; Bozsik, Wright; Basora, Kocsis, Kubala, Puskas, Nyers

XI 1952-53

Zeman; Djalma Santos, Jonquet, Marche; Bozsik, Wright; Julinho, Kocsis, Hidegkuti, Puskas, Czibor

XI 1953-54

Grosics; Rodríguez Andrade, Liebrich, Kohlmeyer; Bozsik, Ocwirk; Rahn, Kocsis, Walter, Puskas, Czibor

XI 1954-55

Beara; Dellacha, Jonquet, Vairo; Liedholm, Bozsik; Kopa, Kocsis, Di Stefano, Schiaffino, Czibor

XI 1955-56

Trautmann; Rodríguez Andrade, Jonquet, Cervato; Liedholm, Wright; Julinho, Kopa, Di Stefano, Schiaffino, Czibor

XI 1956-57

Yashin; Dellacha, Wright, Nilton Santos; Rossi, Edwards; Kopa, Didi, Di Stefano, Sivori, Gento

XI 1957-58

Gregg; Bergmark, Bellini, Nilton Santos; Wright, Szymaniak; Garrincha, Didi, Kopa, Pelé, Skoglund

XI 1958-59

Yashin; Djalma Santos, Santamaría, Segarra; Liedholm, Zito; Garrincha, Didi, Di Stefano, Pelé, Pepe

XI 1959-60

Yashin; Djalma Santos, Santamaría, Nilton Santos; Segarra, Szymaniak; Garrincha, Suárez, Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento

 

I do feel like for me those calls would even be a stretch for top placings, even considering typical Ballon d'Or methodology, although it's true that for the 2002 Ballon d'Or Ronaldo did receive enough points to come 1st (on the other hand only 30% of voters placed him first and obviously in some years the winner has a very high percentage of 1st place votes - the FIFA Player of the Year win was clearer and perhaps influenced even more by the understandable narrative about a world star making a comeback and playing a big role in a World Cup win...even though he didn't play much for Inter Milan, and in the latter part of the year he didn't find great form as a Real Madrid player yet), and Zidane in 2006 did make the top 5 (likewise less than 50% of voters including him in their top 5 vote though, and likewise he did better with the FIFA vote, coming a close second overall) - I suppose it depends on how 'following Ballon d'Or methodology' is interpreted and whether the overall result trumps choosing which votes to agree with if you know what I mean (the ones that placed Ronaldo top or the ones that didn't for example)....

I feel like when I vote on an 18 month basis (even though maybe that's not so different to how the Ballon d'Or voting often worked in effect), that worked against both of them though in these cases, as Ronaldo's claim would be mostly based on the World Cup itself, and likewise Zidane hadn't really shown great form in the main season with Real Madrid (and of course he didn't play at all after the summer....which is relevant for a 2006 calendar year vote also but to some extent it can be overlooked a little, just like Rossi's lack of early 1982 games perhaps).

I probably feel in both cases a best player of the World Cup accolade (or being recognised as a candidate at least) is more suitable than a Player of the Year (or 18 months) one.

 

Soviet football was in relative isolation until the mid-1950s and so it is not easy to assess its strength at this time, as the main criterion - international games - was not regular. Nevertheless, in the 1930s Soviet clubs met, for example, French profis (Racing and Red Star) and Basques, and in the 1940s English clubs (Chelsea and Arsenal), Yugoslavian, Hungarian and Swedish clubs, which were then highly regarded in Europe. In the mid-1950s, four games were played against the mighty Magyars (1952-1956, +1, =2, -1, 4-4), all on equal terms. If we add to these statistics the memoirs published in the 1960s and 1970s, we can draw the following conclusions.

The real boom of Soviet football started in 1936-1938, when a professional championship was organised and clubs switched to the WM system. Then international class players emerged. Above all Grigory Fedotov and Andrei Starostin, but also Sergei Ilyin, Boris Paichadze and Anatoly Akimov.

The post-war championships were a great rivalry between CDKA and Dynamo Moscow. Dinamo were a very organised and tactical team, enabling them to beat Arsenal with Matthews and Mortensen and Norrkoping with Nordahl and Liedholm. Dynamo's best players were Trofimov, Kartsev, Khomich and Beskov. CDKA had more bright individuals. Bobrov, of course, but also Bashashkin, Fedotov, Grinin, Nikolaev. Dyomin. Apart from them I should mention Ponomarev (Torpedo), Simonyan (Spartak) and Gogoberidze (Tbilisi). I think that Bobrov and Khomich (1945), Bobrov, Khomich and Trofimov (1947), Bobrov (1948), Simonyan (?) (1949), Trofimov, Simonyan (1950) have achieved international class.
The first half of the 1950s saw the emergence of Igor Netto's Spartak, which became the base club for the USSR national team. Its main rival throughout the decade was Lev Yashin's Dynamo. I think Neto (1953, 1954), Yashin (1954) can be rightly added to your longlist. They were protagonists in games against Ferenc Puskas's Hungary, Fritz Walter's Germany, Billy Wright's Wolverhampton, Nils Liedholm's Milan (1953-1955). Yes, these were friendly games, but their significance then was almost equal to the official ones.
Thanks

P.S. The IFFHS have recently published their version of the Russian (not USSR!) all-time team. There are some players from the 1930s and 1940s (Fedotov, Bobrov, Trofimov, Bashashkin). Source: https://iffhs.com/posts/1840

 

Having said all that @IceBlood34, maybe I still wouldn't be too far away from considering them (moreso Ronaldo in 2002 possibly) for a place among the 5. I won't change now (maybe it's not strictly prohibited but anyway I don't really feel inclined to necessarily), but Ronaldo in 5th or even 4th could have feasibly been the outcome of my vote for 2002 considering some good form with Inter Milan and maybe slight signs of it in some games with Real Madrid to add to his World Cup performances and impact, and the 2006 one is tricky to consider in general I felt but I could have just about envisaged also including Zidane in 5th, possibly 4th at a stretch if really putting the emphasis on the World Cup (except for the 'chest butt' incident!), as part of huge weight towards the most crucial time of the season perhaps (with whatever good games and moments he had for Real Madrid adding to the case slightly also).

Anyway, I don't try to suggest picking them should be invalid or something - I guess we'll see when votes start to be counted up exactly how they will fare for those years. I think all in all, especially since I voted with an 18 month view in the end (both Ronaldo in 2002 and Zidane in 2006 got some recognition in my more traditional, predominantly calendar year, 'Ballon d'Or vote lists' originally early within this thread of course), I'd not really consider either for top 3 myself, or certainly for 1st place anyway though (even like I say trying to adhere to voting like a proper Ballon d'Or voter - of course each individual always had their own preferences though like I said, including on what to value with more weight).

 

Interesting to see - I notice there is a B team selected too by the way at the bottom of the page (maybe you already saw it, but I thought it worth mentioning as it could be missed).
Guerin Sportivo's XI from 1994 is here
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/s...-player-ratings.2085771/page-99#post-38938337
I mention an XI by David Brooks, historian/researcher who wrote 'The All-Time World Cup' book too for comparison here
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/s...-player-ratings.2085771/page-99#post-38946126

Some other IFFHS teams I noticed after a bit of a search of the site....
Scotland
IFFHS
IFFHS MEN’S ALL TIME SCOTLAND DREAM TEAM


(4-4-2)


GK Andy Goram



RB Danny McGrain



CB Alan Hansen



CB Willie Miller



LB Eric Caldow



RM Jimmy Johnstone



DM Billy Bremner



CM Graeme Souness



LM Jim Baxter



FW Denis Law


FW Kenny Dalglish







SUBSTITUTES

Team B


GK Jim Leighton

RB John Greig

CB Alex McLeish

CB Billy McNeill

LB Tommy Gemmell

RM Peter Lorimer

DM Dave Mackay

CM Gary McAllister

LM Archie Gemmill

FW Alex James

FW Hughie Gallacher

Netherlands
IFFHS
(I think PuckvanHeel already mentioned this to me - it has a C team too as shown below)
IFFHS MEN’S ALL TIME NETHERLANDS DREAM TEAM


(3-4-3)


Team A


GK Edwin van der Sar



RB Jaap Stam



CB Ronald Koeman



LB Ruud Krol



DM Frank Rijkaard



CM Johan Neeskens



CM Wim van Hanegem



OM Johan Cruyff



RW Ruud Gullit



FW Marco van Basten



LW Rob Rensenbrink





Team B


GK Hans van Breukelen

RB Wim Suurbier

CB Rinus Israël

LB Frank de Boer

DM Arie Haan

DM Edgar Davids

CM Clarence Seedorf

OM Dennis Bergkamp

RW Arjen Robben

FW Patrick Kluivert

LW Abe Lenstra


Team C


GK Jan van Beveren

RB Berry van Aerle

CB Barry Hulshoff

LB Adri van Tiggelen

DM Wim Jansen

CM Willy van de Kerkhof

OM Wesley Sneijder

OM Faas Wilkes

RW Johnny Rep

FW Ruud van Nistelrooy

LW Piet Keizer

England
IFFHS
IFFHS MEN’S ALL TIME ENGLAND DREAM TEAM


(4-2-4)


GK Gordon Banks



RB Jimmy Armfield



CB Bobby Moore



CB Billy Wright



LB Ashley Cole



CM Bryan Robson



OM Bobby Charlton



RW Stanley Matthews



FW Gary Lineker



FW Jimmy Greaves



LW Tom Finney




SUBSTITUTES



Team B (4-2-4)


GK Peter Shilton

RB Gary Neville

CB Rio Ferdinand

CB Tony Adams

LB Ray Wilson

CM Duncan Edwards

OM Paul Gascoigne

RW Chris Waddle

FW Alan Shearer

FW Kevin Keegan

LW John Barnes




SUBSTITUTES



Team C (4-4-2)


GK Frank Swift

RB Phil Neal

CB Terry Butcher

CB John Terry

LB Eddie Hapgood

RM David Beckham

CM Glenn Hoddle

OM Johnny Haynes

LM Martin Peters

FW Tommy Lawton

FW Wayne Rooney


Brazil
IFFHS
IFFHS ALL TIME BRAZIL MEN’S DREAM TEAM


(4-2-4)


Team A


GK Gylmar (dos Santos Neves)



RB Cafu (Marcos Evangelista de Moraes)



CB Carlos Alberto (Torres)



CB Domingos da Guia



LB Nílton Santos



CM Didi (Waldyr Pereira)



OM Zico (Arthur Antunes Coimbra)



RW Garrincha (Manuel Francisco dos Santos)



FW Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento)



FW Ronaldo (Luís Nazário de Lima)



LW Ronaldinho (Ronaldo de Assis Moreira)




SUBSTITUTES - Team B


GK Cláudio Taffarel

RB Djalma Santos

CB Aldair (Nascimento dos Santos)

CB Luís Pereira

LB Roberto Carlos (da Silva Rocha)

DM Paulo Roberto Falcão

OM Sócrates (Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira)

RW Jairzinho (Jair Ventura Filho)

FW Romário (de Souza Faria)

FW Zizinho (Thomaz Soares da Silva)

LW Roberto Rivellino


Substitutes Team C


GK Émerson Leão

RB Dani Alves

CB Hilderaldo Luís Bellini

CB Lúcio (Lucimar Ferreira da Silva)

LB Júnior (Leovegildo Lins da Gama Júnior)

CM Gérson (de Oliveira Nunes)

OM Rivaldo (Vítor Borba Ferreira)

RW Julinho (Júlio Botelho)

FW Arthur Friedenreich

FW Leônidas (da Silva)

LW Pepe (Jose Macia)

 

Some more:

Germany
IFFHS

Argentina
IFFHS

Italy
IFFHS

France
IFFHS

Portugal
IFFHS

Denmark (just a first XI)
IFFHS

Hungary
IFFHS

Austria
IFFHS

Belgium (I remember Puck notified me about this one also)
IFFHS

Czechoslovakia (without players since the break-up being considered I guess)
IFFHS

Peru (just a first XI)
IFFHS

I think they are going in alphabetical order and didn't get to Spain and Sweden yet (Switzerland is not there either so clearly they are still on letter S), while Uruguay and potentially a combined Yugoslavia (based on representing Yugoslavia, similar to the Czechoslovakia selection I'm thinking) will be others still be posted for example also....

The Croatia and Serbia ones have been posted already
IFFHS
IFFHS
(Also a historical Montenegro including Savicevic, Mijatovic etc I see, and a historical Bosnia with Katalinksi, Safet Susic etc too)

I'll stop after these 4 (any nation's XI can probably be found with a search though, if it is before Scotland in the alphabet anyway):
Cameroon
IFFHS
Chile
IFFHS
Nigeria
IFFHS
Poland
IFFHS

 

The uncomfortable truth is geographical/cultural patterns matter quite a bit, more than many people realize and want to see (which then, or not, can form a critical mass). The 1989 Super Ballon d'Or for example was influenced by which countries voted (3 of the 5 Nordic countries didn't vote) and show a clear geographical pattern.

This already starts with the way people express themselves in foreign languages. I can tell you, someone as Van Dijk has a markedly different articulation (and is slightly less careful) in his native language. He gets (fractionally) better questions and is in roughly the same amount of minutes more interesting to listen to. For example, he says there it was decided at half-time he would continue playing (this makes it easier for the substitutes, too, to fit into already established game patterns), but then Lukaku went off and fresh runners entered the pitch, so he made the decision himself to go off (he'd be rested for the midweek match either way, injury or not). The coaching staff had asked him at half-time to stay at the sidelines in case of a substitution and not disappear in the dressing room.

See this:


And also this:

Looking at some selected countries: the Germans have excluded both players from their top three nearly 60% of the time, which seems a bit harsh (more later). English, French and Italian voters have historically leaned Ronaldo, while Dutch and Belgians have leaned Messi. pic.twitter.com/coqUFI4OEN

— Omar Chaudhuri (@OmarChaudhuri) September 28, 2019

Let that sink in: the Italians, which some 'experts' and haughty fashionados like to see as the gold standard for rating players, showed (until the end of 2019 at least) an incredible and lopsided bias in favor of Cristiano Ronaldo. Needless to say, I find that pretension and idea nothing short of laughable.

'Unfortunately' this is not as well researched as say the Eurovision Song Contest (in part because, let's not forget, those football award shows aren't watched as much). Let's have some look at that because - despite a different public - it might well have some general overlaps and rough similarities.

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

How often the jury gives a country more points than the televotes, until 2018:


Equal and unequal relationships in the voting:


The 2010s decade split by public and jury (shows only the first 20, of 46 countries in total):


Cluster analysis of the televotes:

(how to read: the Anglophone and Nordic countries form a relatively tight bloc; Switzerland is relatively neutral and has a relatively large distance to nearby Austria as well; Romania falls outside a bloc too, as does Israel)

This has even been split by individual country:



(how to read: Netherlands tends to give Belgium, Germany - surprise perhaps - and Denmark more points than the average, and Italy fewer points)


(how to read: the UK tends to give Italy fewer points than the norm, in dark red, is neutral towards the low countries - which is sometimes seen in 'scientific literature' as broadly similar to them, and 'overvalues' the ones in green)

Would it be merely a coincidence that Switzerland as only Western and highly developed country had never a 'world class' player in the postwar era? All the other ones, from Denmark to Finland and Austria all had undeniably at least one, if not more (putting aside the mini states as Luxemburg, San Marino, Monaco etc.).

 

Or should Messi and Lewa get the same treatment as Henry/Ronaldinho in 2006? Data is inconclusive about how good Cannavaro was back 2006 for the most part, so we are assuming he won it based on his 2006 World Cup form, but what about Jorginho? Data says he is spetacular in league too!

Just after I have written an article stating that the perfect player hasn't been existed yet, you come up with Jorginho who maxes everything out. Perfect player #1! Replacement value for Chelsea = €23,990,164 because Jorginho doesn't have perfect age and perfect length. Pfew. pic.twitter.com/rgwJ0qwf0W

— Joost van der Leij (@JoostvanderLeij) May 12, 2022

https://macro-football.com/player/page/jorginho_1389/

Chelsea with and without Jorginho is night and day. They actually function as a team when he’s on the pitch

— William (fan account) (@OzilThings) May 11, 2022

 

I wasn't sure whether I'd continue this exercise (not part of the main topic) for the 00s decade but I thought it was worth it maybe, so here goes (attempts at my verdicts for approximate top 10 players at end of calendar years, considering form of up to 2.5 years, with more recent getting precedence along with high peak capability I suppose, especially if not necessarily in the past, which helped Ronaldo stay up near the top in 1999 before for example even if that was a little up for debate I would think) - will add 2004 to 2009 later on....

As at end of 2000
1 - Luis Figo
2 - Andriy Shevchenko
3 - Zinedine Zidane
4 - Raul
5 - David Beckham
6 - Francesco Totti
7 - Pavel Nedved
8 - Cafu
9 - Juan Sebastian Veron
10 - Alessandro Nesta

As at end of 2001
1 - Luis Figo
2 - Zinedine Zidane
3 - Francesco Totti
4 - Andriy Shevchenko
5 - Cafu
6 - Raul
7 - Robert Pires
8 - David Beckham
9 - Rui Costa
10 - Michael Owen

As at end of 2002
1 - Zinedine Zidane
2 - Ruud van Nistelrooy
3 - Ronaldinho
4 - Thierry Henry
5 - Michael Ballack
6 - Ronaldo
7 - Roberto Carlos
8 - Henrik Larsson
9 - Patrick Vieira
10 - David Beckham

As at end of 2003
1 - Zinedine Zidane
2 - Thierry Henry
3 - Ronaldo
4 - Pavel Nedved
5 - Patrick Vieira
6 - Alessandro Nesta
7 - Henrik Larsson
8 - Ruud van Nistelrooy
9 - Pablo Aimar
10 - Robert Pires

As at end of 2004
1 - Thierry Henry
2 - Andriy Shevchenko
3 - Ronaldinho
4 - Kaka
5 - Pavel Nedved
6 - Deco
7 - Alessandro Nesta
8 - Zinedine Zidane
9 - Patrick Vieira
10 - Dennis Bergkamp

 

Honestly, I don't remember Vieira's 2000/2001 season that vividly, but for some reason, he was awarded EPL PotS, UEFA TotY, French PotY, and Confederations Cup Silver Ball.

 

Yeah, he'd have been in the mix for that top 10 or thereabouts I think, and his 2000/01 form can still be relevant for the following top 10 to an extent. I suppose the EPL award can (and did in that case) conflict with other domestic awards for PL players, which can be more prestigious, although to be fair I think it is based on a full season assessment moreso than the PFA awards for example isn't it? It's also specifically a Premier League award of course, not to say he didn't have good displays in other competitions, and there are a couple of videos (I didn't check the Lazio one but I think I picked it out previously myself as a contender for an excellent game by him IIRC - I'm sure you remember the FA Cup Final although maybe not his performance so clearly so many years later)
Patrick Vieira vs Tottenham 2000/01 FA Cup Semi-final (monster performance) - YouTube
Patrick Vieira vs Lazio (H) 2000/2001 - YouTube

Souster also did make a Vieira 2000/01 specific video
Patrick Vieira 2000/01 - Peak of His Powers - YouTube

DBS Calcio shows it as his 5th highest rated Premier League season according to their sources (English/British newspapers and/or magazines I guess, possibly Sky Sports ratings even or something too but doubtful especially for that far back I'm thinking), after 02/03 (7.24 from only 23 rated performances though), 03/04 (6.87 from 28 games), 97/98 (6.81 from 31 games) and 01/02 (6.76 from 34 games), with 6.61 from 28 rated appearances.

 

No, it was the Valencia game at home re: the one I'd picked out before for Vieira I remember now, not the Lazio one.

Anyway, I'm thinking that the 2001 top 20 or so (or at least going beyond 10 or a dozen) in a 'best players as at end of the year' list could be one of the most stacked ones there would be. I'd say that despite the re-emergence of Ronaldo, and the rise to prominence of Ronaldinho for example, that the 2002 version is less stacked actually, including in the top few places. 2001 was the last exceptional year for a few of the players I'd say.

I'll finish that now: I guess for the 2005 to 2009 period it'd have to be something like this:

As at end of 2005
1 - Ronaldinho
2 - Thierry Henry
3 - Samuel Eto'o
4 - Kaka
5 - Frank Lampard
6 - Steven Gerrard
7 - Andriy Shevchenko
8 - Juan Roman Riquelme
9 - Gianluigi Buffon
10 - Deco

As at end of 2006
1 - Ronaldinho
2 - Kaka
3 - Fabio Cannavaro
4 - Thierry Henry
5 - Steven Gerrard
6 - Frank Lampard
7 - Gianluigi Buffon
8 - Miroslav Klose
9 - Andrea Pirlo
10 - Juan Roman Riquelme

As at end of 2007
1 - Kaka
2 - Cristiano Ronaldo
3 - Lionel Messi
4 - Steven Gerrard
5 - Clarence Seedorf
6 - Francesco Totti
7 - Wesley Sneijder
8 - Didier Drogba
9 - Dimitar Berbatov
10 - Frank Lampard

As at end of 2008
1 - Cristiano Ronaldo
2 - Lionel Messi
3 - Kaka
4 - Steven Gerrard
5 - Fernando Torres
6 - David Villa
7 - Andrey Arshavin
8 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic
9 - Andres Iniesta
10 - Xavi

As at end of 2009
1 - Lionel Messi
2 - Cristiano Ronaldo
3 - Andres Iniesta
4 - Xavi
5 - Cesc Fabregas
6 - Steven Gerrard
7 - Samuel Eto'o
8 - Xabi Alonso
9 - Diego Forlan
10 - Frank Lampard

 

I'll go with these as 'Decade Teams' then Titanlux (which reminds me I should at least do those for the 50s too: I might even add some attempts at votes for some 50s years or even back to 1950 actually potentially too, although won't go with specific Season Ballon d'Or selections but just go straight to the eventual votes I think - if I go back to 1956 that'd match what I originally did for calendar years anyway, but I could add best efforts for earlier 50s years rather than wait for extra info that might not come as then at least I'd be getting a vote in for those years to add to our collection; anyway it shouldn't delay me too much IceBlood, and this season is still not finished yet and I guess people would want a little bit of time at least after it does finish before confirming any season-based choices for 21/22):

2000s South America
Dida; Cafu, Roberto Ayala, Lucio, Roberto Carlos; Emerson, Juan Roman Riquelme, Ze Roberto; Kaka, Ronaldinho; Ronaldo

2000s Europe A
Gianluigi Buffon; Lilian Thuram, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta; David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Pavel Nedved; Zinedine Zidane; Andriy Shevchenko, Thierry Henry

2000s Europe B
Petr Cech; Willy Sagnol, Carles Puyol, Ricardo Carvalho, Phillip Lahm; Andrea Pirlo, Patrick Vieira, Frank Lampard; Francesco Totti; Ruud van Nistelrooy, Raul

2000s World A
Gianluigi Buffon; Cafu, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro, Roberto Carlos; Zinedine Zidane, Steven Gerrard, Pavel Nedved; Ronaldinho; Andriy Shevchenko, Thierry Henry

2000s World B
Petr Cech; Lilian Thuram, Kolo Toure, Ricardo Carvalho, Gianluca Zambrotta; David Beckham, Patrick Vieira, Frank Lampard; Francesco Totti, Kaka; Samuel Eto'o

Late edit: nearly left out Ronaldinho by mistake, but just making deadline to edit I've taken out Ronaldo Nazario from World B, and moved Kaka to World B.

 

I've not confirmed my 50s votes yet, but I'll get my decade XI choices posted anyway for that decade now. It applies to every decade, but for sure there would be some players who just miss out due to their prime crossing two decades, approximately equally I think (although sometimes that can lead to two decade XI inclusions, or being very close to it like with Beckenbauer and Cruyff for example who I put in the B XI for the 60s - maybe here Yashin was even more in consideration to make two decade XIs having been in my 60s one even though perhaps that is debateable also, and I did wonder about Gilmar making the South America selection again likewise at least). Gento is such a case, but I did still consider him as one of various options for left winger in a Europe XI (having thought for that I'd put Finney on the right): Lennart Skoglund might have been a good option for example too (maybe he played more games at left wing in the decade than Finney did actually I suspect, but not more games as winger; meanwhile Roger Piantoni was more of a stretch I felt as I'm not aware he played many games as winger in his time, and maybe even in a modern system he'd be more likely to be an AM than a wing forward, so if I stick to a deep-lying CF WM version or a traditional WM then he would be an option for inside forward or maybe deep-lying CF in theory, like Faas Wilkes too for example similarly, based on main position played in the era - Jean Vincent who did play as left winger for France would for sure have been another one in the mix though I felt). Garrincha too obviously (for the 50s I felt he might be in more of a close call with Omar Corbatta for second South America XI maybe, with both their cases more for second half of the decade, rather than with Julinho for South America/World A, and I've decided to slot Kopa on the right as he played there enough even though it's partly/largely based on when he didn't play that position, for World B, but otherwise Matthews might have had a case vs Garrincha still maybe). The half-back positions were quite hard to decide on, but I left out Duncan Edwards (who had he lived would surely have fitted more in a mid 50s to mid 60s XI himself, as would Kurt Hamrin I guess to name another player that comes to mind, and Valentin Ivanov too) and Branko Zebec (who played various positions, but might have made it as CB or LH perhaps, based on when he moved back into a deep role, it seems), leaving Wright who was more of a centre back (and an outright one by the end of the decade, so I was close to putting him Europe A or even World A in that slot maybe) and Liedholm who was predominantly a creative midfielder to make the Europe B line-up more 'WM variant' with a second centre back perhaps - I might have considered Zlatko Cajkovski, although more a 1945-1955 player, in Wright's place if Wright was at CB, so then the Europe A and Europe B midfields would be more similar I suppose. I've also gone with the Zito/Didi anchor and playmaker combination for the South America XI based on mainly the second half of the decade, even though in reality in the Brazilian NT they had an extra defensive player behind them. Perhaps if Kopa had been put at RW for Europe too, Fritz Walter, although as a veteran player, might have got in the B team (perhaps even closely contending with Hidegkuti for the A team, but then again Wilkes is another option although likewise perhaps more of a 40s/50s player than one who fits 1950s perfectly overall, and Bernard Vukas for his peak in that supporting forward/AM kind of role I'd think)

1950s South America
Amadeo Carizzo; Djalma Santos, Jose Santamaria, Nilton Santos; Zito, Didi; Julinho, Juan Schiaffino, Pepe; Alfredo Di Stefano, Pele

1950s Europe A
Gyula Grosics; Orvar Bergmark, Ernst Happel, Gerhard Hanappi; Joszef Bozsik, Ernst Ocwirk; Tom Finney, Raymond Kopa, Zoltan Czibor; Sandor Kocsis, Ferenc Puskas

1950s Europe B
Lev Yashin; Jeno Buzanszky, Robert Jonquet, Roger Marche; Billy Wright, Nils Liedholm; Stanley Matthews, Nandor Hidegkuti, Anatoli Ilyin; Ladislao Kubala, Just Fontaine

1950s World A
Gyula Grosics; Djalma Santos, Jose Santamaria, Nilton Santos; Jozsef Bozsik, Ernst Ocwirk; Julinho, Alfredo Di Stefano, Tom Finney; Sandor Kocsis, Ferenc Puskas

1950s World B
Lev Yashin; Victor Rodriguez Andrade, William Martinez, Gerhard Hanappi; Nestor Rossi, Nils Liedholm; Raymond Kopa, Juan Schiaffino, Zoltan Czibor; Just Fontaine, Pele

 

Discrimination in case of European born players (goalkeepers!) might come into play, too. This already starts at the bottom of the pyramid.

-----------------------------------

Mapping discrimination in Europe through a field experiment in amateur sport

Societies are increasingly multicultural and diverse, consisting of members who migrated from various other countries. However, immigrants and ethnic minorities often face discrimination in the form of fewer opportunities for labor and housing, as well as limitations on interactions in other social domains. Using mock email accounts with typical native-sounding and foreign-sounding names, we contacted 23,020 amateur football clubs in 22 European countries, asking to participate in a training session. Response rates differed across countries and were, on average, about 10% lower for foreign-sounding names. The present field experiment reveals discrimination against ethnic minority groups, uncovering organizational deficiencies in a system trusted to foster social interactions.
[...]

Response rate for foreign-sounding and native-sounding names. [rejection as reply is 'no response']
[...]
Discussion
The results of this study show that individuals with foreign-sounding names face a barrier to participation in amateur football in Europe. This evidence of discrimination challenges the notion of equal access in sport regardless of ability, race, or gender (UEFA, 2020)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00773-2