FIFA have decided to unify the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player awards into just the Ballon
d'Or, a smart decision which will cause less confusion. And now it's just a few hours before the
Uruguay - Netherlands World Cup semi-final and the Ballon d'Or nominees have been named. 11
nominees of which 9 are still playing in the World Cup, it seems like the tournament will be
decisive in who will win the award as it looks to be a tight race.
So it's official: the sport's grandest award and the trinket FIFA hand out in the shadows have
now combined to create one Super Award which will be given to the sport's player of the year.
Or here's the alternative director's ending: FIFA convinced the people at France Football to
slap their name on the award for street cred in return for the some fancy watches Sepp has sitting
in his dungeon lair, along with the boxes upon boxes of short shorts and hot pants female players
are still refusing to wear.
Lionel Messi's World Cup ended in tears as Argentina were crushed by Germany in the
quarterfinals. However, as the player's select few critics continue to point out his failure to
shine at the national stage, his club captain Carles Puyol suggests that that Messi will go on to
win all the major individual accolades this season.
FIFA announced today that the two most prestigious awards in men's world soccer, the FIFA World
Player of the Year award (awarded by FIFA since 1991) and the Ballon d'Or (run since 1956 by France
Football magazine), would merge together: FIFA's paws once more taking hold of a previously
independent and prestigious aspect of the global game.
