Argentine super star Lionel Messi has actually won a record 8 Ballon d’Or prizes. Numerous of those wins have actually been involved in a number of debates of various kinds. The most recent problem that has actually concerned the surface area is the supposed participation of Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain FC (PSG) in affecting the outcomes of the 2021 edition of the award.
It might be kept in mind that Messi won his seventh Ballon d’Or prize back in 2021. For those uninformed, the award is given out in an event hosted by France Football normally around November of each year.
The votes from nationwide group captains, supervisors and members of the media from all over the world are counted to identify the winner. For openness, those votes are exposed once the winners have actually been revealed.
What type of control is PSG implicated of?
In spite of the efforts to be totally transparent about the requirements, mechanics and ballot, the trustworthiness of the award has actually been questioned often times. In 2021 in specific, allegations have actually appeared versus PSG, the club which Messi had actually signed up with simply months before raising the prize.
Publications such as Le Monde, Mediaport and Diario AS are declaring that the French Champions are being implicated of “lobbying” for Messi’s triumph in the award that year. The club apparently “strengthened ties” with the president of France Football at the time, Pascal Ferre. It was through this relationship that the club apparently pressed the program of having actually the Argentine crowned as the winner.
Ferre was apparently provided PSG match tickets, in addition to a company class flight on Qatar Airways. The flight was presumably spent for by the Qatari federal government, which by the way likewise owns PSG. This is stated to have actually occurred in March 2021, with the flight having expense roughly EUR8,986 (₤ 7.7 k).
All of these little favours were supposedly suggested to lobby for Messi’s win, however it is uncertain how Ferre might control the outcomes enough to ensure a win considered that votes originated from all over the world and are exposed to the general public.
Why is PSG being connected to the debate?
In the summertime of 2021, it was extensively anticipated that Messi would sign an agreement extension with FC Barcelona. Club captain, he was thought about as the club’s most important property and the newly-elected president, Joan Laporta, made substantial guarantees to make sure that Messi’s extension would be signed sealed and provided.
Laporta won the election, however the months passed till Messi’s agreement reached its expiration date. It was then exposed that the club, as much as it wished to, might not provide the Argentine an agreement extension due merely to the truth that they might not manage it.
FC Barcelona was under a mountain of financial obligation that surpassed 1 billion euros, and they had actually gone afoul of La Liga’s Financial Fair Play guidelines. They needed to cut the incomes of almost everybody in the organisation, consisting of the gamers and administrative personnel. The club needed to unload as numerous gamers as possible and cut the incomes of those that stayed. Even after all of those efforts, there was still insufficient space for them to be able to use Messi a brand-new agreement even if he wanted to accept a pay cut.
Messi was generally left awaiting the air after he had actually completely anticipated that the club would provide him an extension. This is when PSG stroked in to use an option. The Qatar-backed club has hardly any monetary restrictions, and they had the ability to prepare an appropriate deal for Messi which would make it rewarding for him to uproot his household.
At that point, while any club would enjoy to sign him, very few might have truly had the ability to manage to make an ideal deal specifically coming off the back of a pandemic.
PSG is identified to turn into one of the greatest and most prominent clubs in Europe, and winning the UEFA Champions League has actually been their target for the previous numerous years. Including Messi to the lineup was thought to have actually been an action taken towards that objective, and it would have assisted raise the club’s profile tremendously if their brand-new finalizing were to win the Ballon d’Or.
Obviously, Messi likewise won the Copa America with Argentina that summertime, implying he isn’t precisely a surprise winner. Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski was the preferred to win the award in 2020, however the pandemic cancelled the event and in 2021, he lost out versus Messi.
It stays to be seen if anything will come out of this examination however Ferre has actually rejected the claims.