World Cup 2022 | Final France – Argentina | Mbappé vs Messi: The Ballon d’Or is also won on Sunday

The curse that a reigning Ballon d’Or will never win the World Cup may come to an end on Sunday. If the Blues win a third star in twenty-four years, Karim Benzema will also be crowned world champion. Obviously, this victory would have a special flavor as the number 19 of the France team was forced to give up three days before the start of the World Cup. But, technically, he would also be world champion.

There are others who can do a double blow on Sunday. They are two. But for the moment, they think more about Sunday than after. For two reasons: the World Cup crushes everything. And the Ballon d’Or, which is now awarded at the end of the seasons and no longer of the calendar years, is a long way off. It’s probably the least of their worries. And that’s good.

The fact remains that Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, by winning the World Cup, would already take a good option on the Ballon d’Or. Even six months from the end of the season.

In recent years, the Ballon d’Or has not necessarily gone hand in hand with the World Cup. We have to go back to 2006 to find traces of an elected world champion (Fabio Cannavaro) and remember that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric had been rewarded in 2010, 2014 and 2018 without having won the World Cup – without even, for two of the three cities, having shone during the competition. The fault of the place taken by club football, the fault also, of what had become of the Ballon d’Or, coupled with FIFA between 2010 and 2015.

What about Haaland?

This year, we can nevertheless think that the individual who will find himself on pole on Sunday evening will have a chance of going all the way. To reconnect, too, with the tradition which wanted a player elected Ballon d’Or to have shone during the previous major international competition. This is as much linked to a form of return to the sources of the reward as to the players concerned*.

Lionel Messi, because he is Lionel Messi. And that if a Copa America was enough for him to win the Ballon d’Or number 7, we can decently imagine that a victory in the World Cup with at least 5 goals on the clock would weigh very heavily at the time of the vote. And even if the rules have changed, that the voters are now limited to the representatives of the nations present in the Top 100 FIFA, it would be difficult to imagine the Parisian far from the account.

Kylian Mbappe? 5 goals and a World Cup win, on top of everything else, would largely speak for him, too. While Erling Haaland has had a terrific start to the season with Manchester City, Norway’s absence from Qatar would have an adverse impact. And, for him to continue to lead the dance, he will have to continue at this surreal pace with Manchester City. And that Kylian Mbappé drags a hell of a spleen during the second part of the season. That makes some if…

* To this list, we would have added Antoine Griezmann. But activity and self-sacrifice unfortunately rarely go hand in hand with individual rewards. Otherwise, the Frenchman would probably have been rewarded four years ago, when he ticked a lot of boxes, including that of “world champion”.