Barcelona forward will not be awarded a ‘late’ Ballon d’Or for 2020 snub

The Ballon d’Or has always been a major talking point in the world of football, especially when they tied the award with FIFA to make it the ‘official’ best player of the year award.

For a decade straight, though, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo shared the award before Luka Modric broke their streak after his incredible run in the 2018 World Cup as Croatia finished second.

And while Messi got on the podium a few times after that, as well, there was always debate about him lifting the award over certain other players.

The 2021 version, though, was especially contentious, as Robert Lewandowski was snubbed from the award in 2020 because France Football decided to cancel the award due to COVID.

While Leo won the 2021 award fair and square, there have been debates about whether Lewandowski should have been awarded it ‘posthumously’ due to it being cancelled the previous year.

Lewa won it all in 2020. (Photo by MATTHEW CHILDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

And recently, there have been rumours suggesting that France Football have been discussing the idea of giving a ‘late’ Ballon d’Or to Lewandowski. And while the player has publicly claimed he would accept it lovingly, his bubble has to burst now.

No late BdR for Lewa

According to a report published by SER, the Global Head of the Ballon d’Or committee has communicated to them that they have no intention of awarding a posthumous award to Lewandowski despite speculations.

The award was canceled because France Football Federation decided to cancel their domestic season, which meant the likes of Kylian Mbappe – among others from Ligue 1, were not going to be in contention.

However, the possibility of awarding it now, in 2024, was never raised by France Football. The magazine has claimed that they are an institution with rules and that they will not bend their rules for anyone.

For what it is worth, Lewandowski was awarded the FIFA The Best award for the year, but the Ballon d’Or has long been the marker for the ‘Player of the Year’, which means Lewandowski’s brilliant treble-winning year was never etched with the individual trophy.