Paris Saint-Germain striker Lionel Messi has revealed his nominee for the Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world this year. Messi said in an interview with the Argentine network TyC Sports, that Karim Benzema will win the title unchallenged. .
Messi indicated that "Benzema was present in every match in the playoffs of the Champions League, and I don't think there is any doubt about his deserving of winning the award," according to the Spanish newspaper, "Marca". The winner of this year's Ballon d'Or will be announced on October 17, in the French capital, Paris.
And Argentine striker Lionel Messi, the Saint-Germain striker, was the last to win the award last year for the seventh time in his career (a record), but he was absent from the final list for this year as a result of his decline after his move from Barcelona to the Parisian club last summer.
The Golden Ball award, the highest award to honor the best player in football, is witnessing new changes to its laws, which will be applied for the first time in the 2022 edition. The first change is the date of the award, as it was previously awarded in January of each year, and honors the best player during the year before him, but this has undergone a radical change.
The new award date has become October, and the players will not be evaluated during the year, but during the past season 2021-2022, to become a seasonal award, instead of an annual award. The evaluation of the players will be from August 2021 until August 2022, which is the period of the football season in Europe, in addition to the summer period, which may witness continental tournaments.
The second change will be to change who is allowed to vote. Previously, the award, which is supervised by France Football, allowed selected journalists from all over the world to evaluate and vote for players.
For now, only journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA football rankings will be allowed. The third change is the way the nominated players are selected. Voters were required to rate the players according to three parameters, the first being the player's individual level during the season, the second being his achievements with the teams he played for during the season, and the third being the player's football career.
The award did not change the first two criteria for the selections, but it canceled the third criterion, which is the "player's career", and asked the voters not to think about the player's career and focus on the current season. In addition, the award decided to add a new criterion to the voting, which is the player's actions and evaluation at the level of "fair play".
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