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The Covid-19 will have got the better of the Golden Ball. The trophy will not be awarded this year “for lack of sufficient fair conditions”, announces the organizer France Football Monday.
It is a first in the history of the Ballon d’Or. The most prestigious individual football award, created in 1956, will not be awarded in 2020 because of a season largely cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, announced Monday the weekly France Football, which awards it.
Lionel Messi, crowned in 2019, will hold the title of the Ballon d’Or France Football for one more year.
“In exceptional circumstances, exceptional provisions. For the first time in its history, started in 1956, the France Football Ballon d’Or will not be awarded in 2020, due to the lack of sufficient fair conditions”, the magazine wrote in a press release published on its website.
In exceptional circumstances, exceptional provisions. For the first time in its history, started in 1956, #Ballondor France Football will not be awarded in 2020, owing to insufficient fair conditions.
Our explanations on this choice: https://t.co/LgRr8GCuKD pic.twitter.com/Z1x3L3QBGV
— France Football (@francefootball) July 20, 2020
“Protecting the credibility and legitimacy” of the Ballon d’Or
“The parenthesis does not enchant us but seems to us the most responsible and logical. To protect the credibility and the legitimacy of such a reward, it is also to ensure its irreproachability in time”, one can also read.
France Football indicates that it does not want to “affix to the prize list an indelible asterisk of the style ‘trophy won in exceptional circumstances due to the health crisis of Covid-19′”.
“Radically cut season”
The benchmark magazine for football highlights the lack of fairness in terms of statistics and player preparation. “Some [ont] saw their season drastically cut, “he said.
The organizers of the trophy refuse to “gauge and judge” over two months of practice – January and February – instead of the usual eleven. “It is far too little,” they said. “Especially since the other matches took place – or will take place – then in other conditions and formats (in camera, five replacements, European Final 8 in a single match) too far from the usual panorama”, is it indicated .
With AFP
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