http://www.socceritis.com/times/baloney-article.html

The World and European player awards, the greatest individual honours in footba
ll?

"*It takes more than one man to make a team." It's overused terminology, endles
sly churned out as another big money signing fails to live up to expectation. O
f course, these days, for 'team' read 'squad', but split hairs aside, awards fo
r individual achievements can never be placed in the same bracket as club succe
sses. It's just not tangible.

That's not to say that individuals don't have plaudits heaped on them like pigs
 heads in the Camp Nou when they do perform, but even the European Golden Boot,
 Shoe, or whatever currently fashionable footwear is used to compare present da
y sharp-shooters, is a 'weighted' achievement, depending on the 'ease' of scori
ng in respective leagues. (Perhaps just as well, or Henrick would be rivalling
Clarks for stock!)

Nevertheless, come December 17th, it will be time again for the World and Europ
ean player awards to be announced, giving us an opportunity, all be it a subjec
tive one, to compare talent across the footballing board: Cruyff v Beckenbauer,
 Zidane v Raul, Ronaldo v Kahn (again - same result expected). Cue much arguing
, much heralded results… and much money-spinning rewards.

Now I might be on thin ice here, but remember the Bolero, 1984, Torvill and Dea
n and the names of the gold medal awarding judges? No? The names escape me as w
ell, but a couple of eastern European experts, plus Canadian and US officials s
teeped in Ice Dance tradition are probably fairly accurate arbitrators in decid
ing whose figure of eight is numero uno. The point being, there were few compla
ints when T&D picked up gold, because the judges were respected and so were the
ir decisions.

Which is where we have a major problem with the European and World footballer a
wards. They are given international recognition and plenty of column inches, ye
t who is dishing them out and why?

At this point you may be wondering what exactly is the difference between the t
wo? The simple answer: not a great deal. Set aside immediately any preconceptio
ns that the European winner is actually European. Junichi Inamoto hardly played
 for Arsenal last season, for the majority of us a fleeting glimpse of the flam
boyant Japanese midfielder as he lifted the Premiership trophy on a sun drenche
d final day at Highbury had to suffice. Yet Inamoto is one of ten Premiership p
layers nominated for the award. Of course he is not a genuine contender, but th
ere's others, like Roberto Carlos, a rare winner of both European and World Cup
s in the same year, who should be. In fact 15 of the 50 shortlisted for the Eur
opean player award are not native to this continent, although only two of them,
 Senegal pair El Hadji Diouf and Pape Bouba Diop are African.

A technical differentiation, in that the European award focuses only on players
 plying their trade on this continent, also doesn't amount to much. Increasingl
y ALL the world's best play here, so in reality it's a level, if not exactly th
e same, playing field.

No, the differences lie in who presents these awards… and how!

The 'top' European player is honoured by France Football magazine's award of th
e Balon d'Or, the self-titled 'la Bible du Football' selecting 52 journalists w
ho are required to choose from a pre-determined shortlist of 50 players, to pre
vent any voting obscurities. Just who are these selected journalists? For Engla
nd? Henry Winter? Patrick Barclay? When the revolving choice is now a relativel
y unknown Liverpudlian reporter, is it wrong? Not necessarily, but, and trying
hard not to be disrespectful here, if we follow the natural progression of not
selecting the most renown and respected journalists from the major footballing
nations, what happens when we turn to Lichtenstein or the Faroe Islands, for th
eir votes? It becomes even more incredulous, as we shall see, when we turn to t
he FIFA World Player award.

The FIFA award is slightly different in that only 3, as opposed to 50 players,
make the final 'shortlist', although in reality all the votes have already been
 cast.

This year's nominations might look, at the outset, as if they'll give us a poin
ter as to which of the year's two premier competitions, the World Cup Finals an
d the increasingly important European Champions League, are held in the highest
 esteem. Clearly, Ronaldo, even though still not at his Barcelona best, had a m
agnificent World Cup, resulting in the adidas Golden Shoe award. But is a 7-gam
e, 8-goal spree enough to reward him with the World Player award? Not according
 to fellow European nominee Thierry Henry. "The awards must take into account w
hat a player has done throughout the whole season and not what he has achieved
in a single tournament," says Henry. "For this year, I don't think Ronaldo has
been the best player in Europe."

A clue to the Brazilian, who has hardly played club football in 2002, being in
the final three, alongside Zinedine Zidane and Oliver Kahn, might be seen, by o
nce again examining those who decide. Voted for by the football coaches of over
 140 international teams, with the votes cast way back in September, shortly af
ter the World Cup Finals thus ruling out a third of a season on the domestic fr
ont, it is hardly surprising there's the potential for a bit of international b
ias. I mean, where the World Cup Finals is beamed to millions as arguably the w
orld's greatest sporting spectacle, how many Bundesliga games will the national
 team boss of American Samoa be watching this season?

If I'm giving the impression that these awards are little more than a money-spi
nning popularity contest then so be it. Certainly it is the most marketable a.k
.a. attacking players, who are traditionally honoured. As if to prove this, Kah
n is the first goalkeeper to be shortlisted for the World Player award since it
s conception in 1991. Is the trend changing? Hardly. It would have been contrad
ictory to ignore the claims of the player who had just been awarded the Golden
Ball for the 'best' performances in Japan/Korea. I hugely doubt he will win.

Likewise I expect there to be overlooked arguments for players who have perform
ed on both World and Club stages. Bayer Leverkusen's Michael Ballack, the afore
mentioned and hugely recognisable Roberto Carlos, or team mate of both and Cham
pions Cup final scorer Lucia; the mainstay of a World Championship winning defe
nce that was unfairly pilloried during the early stages of the finals. Still, i
t is unlikely too many left backs, memorably banned midfielders or gangly centr
e halves will be picking up the winning votes.


Another with a strong case, purely for his domestic form is Henry, who sums it
up best when questioned on how previous winners have been selected. "When I loo
k at the outcomes I'm a bit confused!"

And not just Thierry. The players may be stronger, fitter and more skilful than
 ever, but the manner of the judging of both the Balon d'Or and FIFA's own Worl
d Player awards would seem not only to befuddle the sport's elite, but to reduc
e them to little more than contestants in a popularity contest. Akin to Miss Wo
rld, but slightly less offensive.


The Balon d'Or for the best Europe-based player will be awarded on December 17t
h, after the votes of 52 journalists from around the continent have been collec
ted.

The FIFA Players of the Year will be crowned at the 12th annual Gala in Madrid,
 also on December 17th.

*(exception: Diego Maradona, Argentinian National Team, 1986 World Cup).