A Ballon d'Or campaign as fierce off the pitch as on it

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A Ballon d'Or campaign as fierce off the pitch as on it
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An emotional Ousmane Dembele had barely settled back into his chair at Paris' historic Theatre du Chatelet last September, gold-dipped orb in hand, when campaigns for this year's men's Ballon d'Or prize began to whirr into action.
Entourages roused their candidates, media revelled in the hype. Who deserved the award in 2026? A World Cup year, no less, in which the narrative occasionally became not just which players could lead their country to glory, but how doing so would help them secure football's biggest individual accolade.
"The Ballon d'Or has been discussed every single day," said European football expert Guillem Balague on BBC Sport's Euro Leagues podcast.
"Quite clearly it follows the pattern of society, where it puts a lot of emphasis on the individual - it's harder to understand why a collective works, it becomes very easy to understand why one dribbles or doesn't dribble."
Clamour for the spotlight only increased as the red-carpet ceremony neared.
"You can't underestimate the PR machine that some clubs and some players are going to use," added French football journalist Julien Laurens.
Managers and sporting directors talked up their charges, and questioned why others on their squad did not make the 30-man shortlist.
Deco branded it a "huge scandal" that Barcelona pair Raphinha and Pedri missed out, but backed Lamine Yamal as overwhelming favourite to win it. Not, he says, because he is also a Barca player, but "because I like football".
Star names have appeared frequently in the media. Lamine Yamal himself insisted he will not "beg for anything" - after last year saying he dreamed of "winning many" - but suggested the prize should not merely go to the top goalscorer.
Paris St-Germain manager Luis Enrique confessed he is "bored of the Ballon d’Or" - although with a record 10 PSG players on the shortlist, perhaps he wishes to keep out of the debate. Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia talked each other up to BBC Sport.
"We can cut it in two," joked Dembele. "Honestly, he deserves it, the season he had was exceptional." Kvaratskhelia responded: "Of course it's him!"
A 'Kvara d'Or' campaign in Georgia celebrated the country's favourite fleet-footed son.
"I think for the big nations it's really difficult to understand what [winning] would mean for the small country," the winger explained.
Kylian Mbappe, who Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho compared to the original Ronaldo, was less subtle than most in his pitch to win the award for the first time.
"I always think I'm the best but everyone has their own opinion," professed the Frenchman, now the all-time World Cup top goalscorer. "Of course, this year could be good for me to win the Ballon d'Or - but journalists vote."
Indeed - since a short spell of national team captains and managers also voting ended in 2015 - the 30-player shortlist drawn up by the publications France Football and L'Equipe has been voted on by one journalist from each of the top 100 Fifa-ranked nations.
The deadline has passed. The winner has already been chosen.
Messi, Ronaldo and social media
James Kirkham, a sports brand strategist who has worked with top clubs and players, including Harry Kane, says the build-up has had an election feel.
"You're going out, canvassing, getting your vote and making sure you shore up certain blocks from certain countries, and why wouldn't you?" adds Kirkham.
The lobbying is not for everyone. Max Eberl, Bayern Munich's board member for sport, championed Kane and Michael Olise but said the best players, external "are the ones who don't need to run a campaign".
Mbappe's compatriot, Jean-Pierre Papin, winner of the award in 1991, meanwhile told French TV:, external "I like Kylian a lot, he's a record-breaker. However, there comes a point when it's all about me, me, me and me."
Mbappe did make an interesting observation, alluding to the dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo - the pair won a combined 13 in a 15-year period between 2008 and 2023.
"My idea of the Ballon d'Or comes from the Messi and Ronaldo era - you don't give it to ordinary players, you give it to players who are different," explained Mbappe.
AC Milan's Kaka was the last recipient before Messi and Ronaldo's tug-of-war began, the Brazilian pipping the young pair to the prize in 2007.
That was a year after fledgling social media platforms Facebook and Twitter launched to the public. Nokia dominated mobile phone markets, people took digital cameras on nights out.
The world had changed immeasurably by the time Messi won for an eighth time in 2023.
"Today everything moves at the speed of light," explains former AC Milan chief executive and sporting director Ariedo Braida, who witnessed the club land seven awards, from Ruud Gullit to Marco van Basten's treble, George Weah, Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka.
"Fans follow individuals - the players - rather than the club themselves. It's a widespread phenomenon, which we see, for example, in politics too.
"Once upon a time, you'd be a Milan fan and go to watch Milan. Today, everything is live and with the Champions League you always get to see all the great stars straight away.
"I must say this makes me feel a bit nostalgic, because the event is always immediate. Anticipation creates that sense of longing which has now disappeared."
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Messi and Ronaldo's brilliance, and often tribal online following, has also driven an increased emphasis on individual records - among fans, media and the players who grew up dreaming of emulating them.
"You could argue we are in a more interesting time because for basically 15 years it was Messi v Ronaldo and it certainly feels more open. It is a different play now," adds Kirkham.
"The social noise is deafening, relentless, all-consuming - every fan has an insatiable appetite, every point is riffed on, reacted to, but you also have this domino effect in microcosms of the media on every platform."
Clips go viral - a great goal, magical piece of skill, a dazzling dribble - but so do opinions.
"Now a solitary word on a broadcast can get played out as tweets, reacted to by creators and ex-players in video content that exists on reels and shorts and stories, that gets back-played through radio and on TV screens," adds Kirkham.
"It's the whole ecosystem, the manner in which it amplifies across these different spaces and platforms, then it generates narratives.
"No-one is doing anything wrong, creating something they believe is resonating with their audience. But en masse that is a machine, a fierce output that is generated for a player or against a player or whatever that may be."
Braida, who was at Barcelona when Messi won the 2015 prize, would agree: "These days, media exposure is absolutely crucial. With the advent of social media, the world has changed radically compared to my day.
"There's been a global transformation, and today we live in a small global village, because with the internet you can reach everywhere in real time."
What it means to players and clubs
Michael Owen tells a story about how when Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier rang to break the news he had won the award in 2001, the 22-year-old did not even know what the Ballon d'Or was.
Owen engaged in a photoshoot at Liverpool's Melwood training ground a fortnight before the images were distributed to the media, with the striker officially presented the trophy on the Anfield pitch before a game against Derby County.
He was the first winner playing for an English club since Manchester United's George Best in 1968, the period in between dominated by Italian, Spanish and German teams.
From its launch in 1956 until 1995, when Weah became the first and so-far only African player to win it, only European players were eligible.
Only in 2007 did the award became truly global, open to players from any club - not just those representing European teams. Not until 2011 was it awarded at a glamorous ceremony. And only in 2018 was the women's prize launched.
"Winning the Ballon d'Or has an extremely positive impact," adds Braida. "We at AC Milan bought Kaka for around 7.5m euros and sold him for 67m euros [to Real Madrid].
"I must tell you, however, that in 2008, following his Ballon d'Or win in 2007, Manchester City made us a written offer of 105m euros. We're talking about a written offer, not a sounding-out or mere words.
"We were probably still in the early stages of certain commercial developments at that time, but now it clearly has a massive impact. Even back then, his value increased fivefold and winning the Ballon d'Or brought him global exposure and fame."
For someone like Three Lions captain Kane, hoping to become the first English winner in 25 years and only the fifth of all time, the prestige is huge - especially with the ceremony held in London to mark the 70th anniversary of Stanley Matthews winning the inaugural prize.
"It would be a massive achievement if it did happen," Kane said on Wednesday, having remained coy on his own chances.
Kane has done his share of recent interviews but others, such as Rio Ferdinand on Bayern's official social accounts, have made his case for him. "Ballon d'Or!"
He is, after all, vying to become Bayern's first winner since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's second successive triumph in 1981. Not since Borussia Dortmund's Matthias Sammer 30 years ago has it returned to the Bundesliga.
Bayern will also remember the case of Robert Lewandowski, who was widely tipped as favourite in 2020, scoring at an astonishing rate as the Bavarians won all six trophies available, including the Champions League, before the ceremony was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Poland striker, who finished runner-up to Messi the following season, told BBC Sport last year the prize has become "part football, partly politics" and was "more commercial" than its counterpart, The Best Fifa Men's Player award.
Ballon d'Or snubs can cut deep. Franck Ribery said it felt "like a robbery" when he missed out to Ronaldo in 2013. Real Madrid boycotted the 2024 ceremony when they learned Manchester City midfielder Rodri would scoop the gong instead of Vinicius Junior.
"In Brazil, the hype is also giant," explains Caique Andrade, international football reporter at Globo. "When Vini didn't win the 2024 Ballon d'Or, there was a lot of commotion about it."
It may be an individual award, but winning is huge for clubs, too.
"This means an incredible impact in terms of popularity, visibility and also financial returns for the club," explains Braida. "Today, with the rise of social media and followers - factors that shape commercial aspects - this is even more true."
Kirkham concludes: "It is a global point - that means more audience and more eyeballs, and that means more money around the world."
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