Modric’s win lesson on why it’s vital to nurture talent in Africa

2018 FIFA Men's Ballon d'Or award for best player of the year's Real Madrid's Croatian midfielder Luka Modric poses with the trophy after the 2018 FIFA Ballon d'Or award ceremony at the Grand Palais in Paris on December 3, 2018. PHOTO | FRANCK FIFE | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Salah was awarded a total of 188 points, finishing 6th on the list. It is instructive that he was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2017.
  • The only African winner was Liberia’s George Weah. The 1995 Ballon D’or winner is now president of his country.

Football is arguably the most inclusive and uniting sport in the world. Except, of course, where the match is a derby and fair play goes out of the pitch to be replaced by passion and the fight for honour and glory.

Even then, fans remain drawn to the sport. All 195 countries in the world watch football and all of them get a vote to decide who wins the coveted Ballon D’or trophy, which every player worth his salt dreams of winning some day.

This is a level playing field with no hierarchy. Every year, every country gets a vote and a say on who should be the winner.

So, who gets to vote on behalf of their country? That esteemed and perhaps daunting task is bestowed on sports journalists.

How do they decide out of the shortlisted players? France Football, the weekly French magazine, looked for a player that excelled in individual and collective performances including honours in 2018, their skill and career.

MESSI

It is no question that Luka Modric won this year’s top prize, having garnered an impressive 753 points.

But the voting was rather peculiar with Lionel Messi finishing 5th and missing out on the top three for the first time since 2007, especially because he had an abysmal performance in this year’s World Cup.

This is despite winning the La liga, Copa Del Rey, the European Golden Boot and scoring 60 goals last season.

However, the UEFA Champions League does carry weight in honours and performance and FC Barcelona exited in the quarter finals. Was this enough to earn him 5th position?

Messi’s perennial rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, came second and also skipped the ceremony despite winning his fifth UEFA Champions League compared to Modric’s four.

CRISTIANO

He did not win the World Cup Golden Boot as many had predicted despite that spectacular hattrick against Spain and becoming the fourth player to score in four World Cup tournaments.

That trophy was won by Harry Kane with six goals, although three of them were penalties. Perhaps this was the inspiration behind the Kenyan journalist Charles Nyende’s vote for Kane as the second best player.

It is a shame that Kane did not retain the English Premier League Golden Boot for the third consecutive year; that wold have probably earned him more points.

That honour went to Kane’s closest rival, Mo Salah, who won the EPL Golden Boot with an impressive 32 goals in 36 games.

Salah was awarded a total of 188 points, finishing 6th on the list. It is instructive that he was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2017.

GEORGE WEAH

Where then do the future Ballon D’or winners lie now that the two horse race appears to be over? The last EPL player winner was Ronaldo while in Manchester United, that same year Fernando Torres came third.

The top three have always been dominated by La liga players; albeit for Ronaldo moving to Juventus it would be a Spanish affair.

No Bundesliga player has made the top three since Manuel Neuer in 2014, thanks to the impressive clean sheet he kept at the 2014 World Cup where he won the trophy.

Closer home, the only African winner was Liberia’s George Weah. The 1995 Ballon D’or winner is now president of his country.

This year, the only other African player on the 30-man shortlist was Sadio Mané of Senegal, who came in at 22 with only three points.

TALENT

One point, naturally, came from his country, and the others from Congo DRC and Cote d’Ivoire.

Is there much hope for the continent here or shall we look to FIFA World Player of the Year? At least with the FIFA award, Samuel Eto’o once came third – in 2005 – while Salah was also third this year.

Alas, the revered Weah also won the coveted award in 1995 and came in third the following year.

But what more can be done to raise the stakes of even more African players including Kenyans coming close to winning the trophy? Well, for a start, the importance of football academies cannot be overstated.

AFRICA

The earlier African nations begin the more chances their national teams will have international league players with a fair chance to showcase their skills and talents on the global stage.

Commendations to Harambee Stars on their qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations where major football club managers like Mourinho and former Arsenal Coach Arsené Wenger have been known to scout for talent.

But who is willing to take charge and make football as great as athletics in Kenya is? With Modric’s win the longest rivalry of our generation came to an end, but the question is; will an African player take his place in future?

Ms Burini works with an international airline on dispute resolution. [email protected]