Ballon d’Or is considered to be one of the most prestigious individual achievements in global soccer and is often used to compare the success of players from different generations but the award has been in negative news recently after a former player made some shocking revelations.
A scandal was revealed by the ex-captain of the Equatorial Guinea soccer team, Juvenal Edjogo as he claimed that his votes were changed in the 2013 award ceremony which was won by Cristiano Ronaldo.
He said: “What little I can say about this type of award is that in 2013, I voted for my three players for the Ballon d’Or, and I sent my votes, and in the end when it was made public, the list of who voted for who, my votes were different”
🚨BALLON DOR SCANDAL 🚨 pic.twitter.com/uMqFS0Wrc6
— TOGA (@RonaldoEstats) March 2, 2023
Juvenal further stated that it was mentioned that he had voted for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo while he didn’t vote for any of them and had voted for Didier Drogba and Andres Iniesta. He claimed that since the incident, he doesn’t believe in the authenticity of the awards.
He said: “It said I voted for Messi, Cristiano, and I don’t know who else, but I didn’t vote for any of them. That’s why I say, I don’t believe in absolutely anything about those awards.”
The soccer world has been left in absolute shock after the revelations were made and fans have started questioning the integrity of the process to choose the winner. Cristiano Ronaldo won the award in 2013 while his rival Lionel Messi finished second followed by Franck Ribery.
Not the first Ballon d’Or scandal as a fake journalist voted in 2018
The incident revealed by Juvenal Edjogo isn’t the only scandal that has questioned the sanctity of the Ballon d’Or as there was another controversy revealed regarding the 2018 ceremony as a fake journalist had reportedly voted in the process.
Congratulations to Luka Modric, FIFA Ballon dor winner. #lukamodric #sports #realmadrid #spain #laliga #crothia #fifa #soccer #8dnetworktotheworld #8dnetwork pic.twitter.com/8LiIm2oWGM
— 8D Network (@8D_Network) December 4, 2018
It was revealed that a journalist named Abdou Bonia from Comoros who represented albaladcomores.com had voted for Kylian Mbappe but in a shocking discovery, it was revealed that the newspaper had been inactive for several years and nobody by the name of Abdou Bonia ever worked for the publication.
Even though Luka Modric swept the 2018 Ballon d’Or with a staggering majority, the recent revelations have put the sanctity of the prestigious Ballon d’Or award in question and France Football should be worried about future awards in trying to keep the authenticity of the award intact.
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