The Golden Ball is awarded after voting by media representatives from all continents. This is somewhat reminiscent of the jury voting during the Eurovision Song Contest, where during the voting ceremony the organizers connect with the capitals to select their favorites. In the case of the Golden Ball, voting is secret, but it is not a conclave – its results leak out quite easily and can be analyzed.
In 2020 – as we remember – the plebiscite was canceled, but we can look at the vote, for example, from 2019. At that time, the representatives of Poland and … Germany cast their votes for Robert Lewandowski in the first position. For comparison, the best Lionel Messi at the time was ranked number one among 51 electors, which shows how many votes have to be gathered to win. In 2018, the victorious Croatian Luka Modrić ended up in number one among 38 voters.
Lewandowski or Messi – who deserves the “Golden Ball”? [WSZYSTKO O PLEBISCYCIE “FRANCE FOOTBALL”]
The matter is discretionary and depends on the sympathy not only in force in a given country, but also among specific journalists. On the occasion of the 2019 Golden Ball, the percentage of points scored by Senegalese Sadio Mane and Algerian Riyad Mahrez was much higher in African and Arab countries than in voters from Europe.
Sometimes they vote in an extremely original way and against the tide. In 2018, for example, the representative of the Bahamas indicated Eden Hazard as the best player in the world, the voter from Bolivia – Luis Suarez, and the voter from the Central African Republic – Karim Benzema.
In 2019, the Ivory Coast elector chose Alisson, not Leo Messi, which is also an interesting choice. A Guatemalan man did likewise, and Kazakhstan and Madagascar saw the best footballer in the world in Mohamed Salah. Perhaps the most interesting was the decision of Sri Lanka, which chose Trent Alexander-Arnold as the one who is to cover Messi, Ronaldo or Lewandowski.
In a word, the elections of some electors may surprise you, and never before has Robert Lewandowski managed to gain popular support among voters, which is a condition for victory. The principle of voting on a courtesy basis, which is typical of Eurovision, does not apply here either – me against you, you against me. Rather, we are dealing with a free American, the results of which are impossible to predict.