Mbappé Faces the Ballon d’Or Criteria: When Demanding the Award Becomes a Risk

Al-Taj News – Kylian Mbappé did not wait until October 26 to find out whether his name would finally be written on the Ballon d’Or or not. The French star was not content to let his numbers and his season speak for him; weeks before the winner is announced, the Real Madrid forward chose to enter one of the most sensitive battles in world football: the debate over the Ballon d’Or criteria.

In his interview with France Football, the magazine that awards the prize, Mbappé was clear enough that his remarks could hardly be considered merely a personal wish when he said, “I think I can win it this year.” He considered it a short-term goal before presenting his main argument: the Ballon d’Or is an individual award, and therefore a player’s assessment should be based primarily on what he himself has contributed, rather than solely on the number of trophies won by his team.

This particular point is what makes Mbappé’s remarks more than just a media campaign to win an award. The French forward did not merely say that he has the numbers to qualify as a contender; he entered into a discussion about the criteria themselves.

The Real Madrid top scorer believes that the absence of collective trophies with Real Madrid and France does not negate his individual case, especially after ending the season with exceptional numbers: 15 goals in the UEFA Champions League, 25 goals in La Liga, and 10 goals at the World Cup, in addition to reaching 22 goals in World Cup history, surpassing Lionel Messi to become the all-time leading scorer in the tournament.

But Mbappé did not stop at the numbers. He also placed himself within the historical context of the award when he linked his concept of the Ballon d’Or to the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, considering that the award is not given to an “ordinary” player, but rather to a player who stands apart, and then argued that what he produced during the season places him in that category.

This is where the level of risk in his remarks rises, beyond the fact that they were made to the magazine that awards the prize itself, because the award’s rules do not make the matter individual in the sense presented by Mbappé alone. The Ballon d’Or is decided by a panel of 100 journalists representing the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings, with each selecting 10 players from the final shortlist and ranking them according to a points system. The voting criteria also identify three main elements: decisive individual performance, team achievements, and conduct and sportsmanship.