Football Controversial Award
Fraud allegations – Did PSG buy Lionel Messi the Ballon d’Or?
As of: 3:05 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Lionel Messi proudly poses with the Ballon d’Or at the ceremony in Paris in 2021
Quelle: picture alliance/abaca/ABACA
Lionel Messi’s triumph at the Ballon d’Or two years ago surprised many experts and fans. Now, according to a media report, the police are investigating Paris St. Germain. It’s about the accusation of fraud. And expensive gifts.
This election was controversial from the start. Now the question arises: Was it the result of a cheating scandal?
Lionel Messi (36/now Inter Miami) won his seventh Ballon d’Or, the golden ball as the best footballer of the year, in 2021. The then star of Paris St. Germain received 613 votes, only 33 more than Robert Lewandowski (35/now FC Barcelona), then FC Bayern’s star striker.
Afterwards there was heavy criticism. Many had seen Lewandowski in front, who had set his 41-goal Bundesliga record and won the championship and the Club World Cup. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the police are now investigating Paris Saint-Germain. The accusation: bribery.
Poland’s national player Robert Lewandowski has been a striker for FC Barcelona since 2022
Quelle: Getty Images/Angel Martinez
Accordingly, PSG communications director Jean-Martial Ribes is said to have offered “various gifts” to the former editor-in-chief of “France Football”, Pascal Ferre. “France Football” is organizing the election, which involves journalists from all over the world.
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There were obviously first contacts between Ribes and Ferre in 2020. At that time it was about a critical article about President Nasser Al Khelaïfi (50), which PSG wanted to have deleted.
Flight with Qatar Airways for 8986 euros
In return, Ferre is said to have received an invitation to the Champions League game in Dortmund in February 2020 during the corona pandemic and a business class flight with Qatar Airways for 8,986 euros in March 2021. In order for Messi to receive the Ballon d’Or in November 2021, the relationships are said to have been maintained.
There are communications from Ribres telling club president Al Khelaïfi that “it was necessary to lobby” and that they would have lunch with Ferré.
Messi won the election. Although he won the South American Copa América and the Spanish Cup, he was unable to impress at PSG. Ferre, the former “France Football” boss, has been PSG’s press spokesman since 2023.
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