Misconception Cleared: Pelé Does Not Have Seven Ballon d’Or Awards

A Brazilian journalist assured that the former Santos has seven awards

“You have just passed Pelé as the top Ballon d’Or winner, you have eight, against seven for the King of Football. Have you imagined that one day in your life?

The words came from the mouth of a TNT Sports Brasil reporter at Monday’s gala and were directed at Lionel Messi, who replied that it was an honor to have such a number of awards. But, the question did not go unnoticed on social networks and raised doubts: Does Pelé have 7 Ballon d’Ors?

Curiously, several Brazilian portals broke the news on Monday that La Pulga had surpassed the former soccer player who died at the end of last year. “Messi passes Pelé,” headlined UOL Esporte and even Placar magazine also echoed that milestone, or Terra reported that “Messi broke Pelé’s record.” In the archive, there are articles published by other media, such as Lance or even the Santos club itself, which have long maintained that the former scorer who won three World Cups held an unusual number of awards.

However, if you look up the history of the award given by France Football magazine, there is no record of Pelé having been awarded. So, how is it possible that there are several analysts who maintain that Pelé has seven Ballon d’Ors?

The main Brazilian portals maintain that Messi passed Pelé with his eighth Ballon d’Or

To answer this question, it is necessary to explain that the award began to be given in 1956 and that until 1995 only players with European nationality who played in a league on the Old Continent qualified. This was what the former director of the French magazine Gabriel Hanot had regulated. For this reason, in that period the only South Americans to win it were the Argentines Alfredo Di Stefano (1957 and 1959), because he had a Spanish passport and was a Real Madrid star, and Omar Sívori (1961), who had Italian citizenship and stood out for Juventus. .

Once the rule was changed, in 1995, it was Ronaldo Nazario who took the stage in Paris in 1997 to break with tradition and position South America above all, something that would be repeated shortly after with Rivaldo in 1999, Ronaldo again in 2002, Ronaldinho in 2005, Kaká in 2007, and finally Lionel Messi in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

But where does Pelé’s name appear? For that we have to go back to 2016, when France Football launched a special edition of its magazine for the 60th anniversary of the first Ballon d’Or. In that kind of encyclopedia of more than 150 pages there was information about each of the editions of the prestigious award and also a peculiar analysis.

Taking advantage of the anniversary of the creation of the award, the specialists of the French media decided to analyze what would have happened if between 1956 and 1995 the performances of non-European players had been taken into account. In this way, they recognized in an article that there were five South Americans who had reached the top of the ranking: Garrincha in 1962, Mario Kempes in 1978, Romario in 1994, Diego Maradona in 1986 and 1990 and Pelé in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1970.

It is that article published by France Football that led several Brazilian journalists and media to claim that O Rei has seven Ballon d’Ors. Although, in reality he has none.

Even in 2014, when the French magazine was in alliance with FIFA, Pelé was given an honorary Ballon d’Or for best player of the 20th Century in recognition of the level he showed when he did not qualify to win the award. Something similar happened with Maradona in 1995.

The Golden Balls that, according to France Football, South American footballers would have won if their performances had been taken into account.

Who won the Ballon d’Or in those years?

1958 Raymond Cup (France).

1959 Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina-Spain).

1960 Luis Suárez (Spain).

1961 Omar Sívori (Argentina – Italy).

1962 Josef Masopust (Czech Republic).

1963 Lev Yashin (Soviet Union).

1964 Denis Law (Scotland).

1970 Gerd Mûller (Germany).

1978 Kevin Jeegan (England).

1986 Igor Blenov (Ukraine).

1990 Lothar Matthaus (Alemania).

1994 Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria).

2023-11-01 20:54:00
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