Why couldn't Sneijer win the Ballon d'Or 2010?

More than a decade has passed since Wesley Sneijder was left out in the 2010 Golden Ball race, the controversy about the injustice of that year has not ended.

"Messi did not steal Sneijder's 2010 Golden Ball"

On December 6, 2010, the football world was shocked when FIFA announced the shortlist for the Golden Ball. Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi are the three selected in the final round.

FIFA overlooked Wesley Sneijder, who shone with the treble with Inter Milan, and made a huge mark at the 2010 World Cup as part of the Dutch team.

The rest everyone knows. Messi won the second Golden Ball in his career. And Sneijder fell into oblivion in the flow of world football.

That was also the beginning of the fans' loss of faith in the Golden Ball, the most prestigious individual award for football stars.

Who deserves more than Sneijder in 2010?

Messi ended 2010 with 1 La Liga championship and 1 Spanish Super Cup with Barca. At the UEFA Champions League, the Argentine superstar was defeated by Inter in the semi-finals. Messi failed in both matches.

At the 2010 World Cup, the most important tournament of the year, Messi showed a similar look. He could not find the back of the net once and was eliminated in the quarterfinals after Argentina was crushed by Germany and lost 0-4. Argentina's best player in that tournament was Carlos Tevez.

What does Sneijder have in store for 2010? Within 17 days, from May 5 to May 22, 2010, the Dutch midfielder completed the first and only treble in Italian football history. The Serie A and Coppa Italia championships were achievements that could be considered a matter of course for Inter to win at that time, but the Champions League witnessed the incredible rise of the team wearing the blue and black striped shirt.

Sneijder won the treble with Inter Milan in 2010

In 2010, Inter spent 45 years without ever winning the Champions League/C1 Cup. The last time the Nerazzurri reached the final was in 1972. In the two previous seasons, Inter could not score even 1 goal in the knock-out phase.

Sneijder is the final piece of the puzzle that brought Inter to light. The Dutch midfielder arrived at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in the final days of the summer transfer window, ending 3 busy months for Inter when they sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barca to welcome Samuel Eto'o.

Diego Milito, Thiago Motta and Lucio also joined the Giuseppe Meazza team from Genoa and Bayern Munich. Including Sneijder, Inter is considered to have replaced half of the main squad. The ambitions of Jose Mourinho and the Inter Board of Directors are very clear. They want Inter to turn into a dragon.

It cannot be said that the journey was easy for Inter. The blue half of Milan was almost eliminated in the group stage when they were led by Dinamo Kyev in the 4th round of the group stage until the 88th minute. The scorer who opened the comeback in just the last 3 minutes was Sneijder.

The more the Dutch number 10 plays, the better. In the knock-out phase, Sneijder shined brightly in victories against Chelsea, CSKA Moscow and especially the 3-1 defeat of Barca at Giuseppe Meazza. He equalized for Inter before hitting the ground with a header to help Milito increase the score to 3-1.

In the final against Bayern Munich, it was still Sneijder who unlocked the Nerazzurri with an assist for Milito to open the score.

Helping Inter win all the noble titles is not the end of Sneijder. The midfielder, born in 1984, entered the 2010 World Cup and almost carried the Netherlands to the final. There, the quarter-final match with Brazil saw No. 10 turn defeat into victory for the "Orange Cyclone" by forcing Felipe Melo to score an own goal and directly score to set the score 2-1.

Still knowing the words if people could put all of Paris in a bottle, but the fate of Sneijder, the Netherlands and the whole world football could change greatly if Arjen Robben defeated Iker Casillas in the final. World Cup in a face-to-face situation. The person who launched the shot that destroyed the Spanish defense at that time was Sneijder.

Sneijder shined and brought the Netherlands to the 2010 World Cup final

Although Sneijder lost the World Cup "Top Scorer" title to Thomas Mueller (scores 5 goals but assists less), and "Best Player of the Tournament" to Diego Forlan, most admirers and experts The subject is still certain that Sneijder deserves to be the owner of the Golden Ball. UEFA's "Best Midfielder of the Season" award then further strengthened the position of the Dutch number 10.

Looking back at all that glory, belief and foundation, we can see how big of a scandal it is that Sneijder was not selected into the top 3.

What happened?

The only thing Sneijder lost to Messi in 2010 was the most controversial factor in football: goals. The Argentine superstar had 56 goals in the 2010 calendar year alone in the Barca shirt. Sneijder only has 6 goals in an Inter shirt.

On the Argentina team, Messi scored 2 goals, Sneijder had 7 goals while wearing the orange shirt. In total, Messi has 58 goals, nearly 5 times more than Sneijder (13 goals).

However, using goals as a scale for Messi and Sneijder is too lame. Sneijder is an attacking midfielder who specializes in creating play, scoring goals is a secondary task. Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has agreed to completely ignore Zlatan Ibrahimovic just so Messi can shine for Barca.

However, not everyone can have such a neutral perspective. Messi's 56 goals turned disappointing performances at the World Cup into the past.

During the decisive stage of the votes, Messi overwhelmed everyone with a series of superb performances in La Liga. El Pulga scored 12 goals in 5 consecutive matches from late October to late November, including a hat-trick to help Barca crush Almeria 8-0.

Also during this period, Sneijder and Inter declined under new captain Rafa Benitez. The balance thus tilts.

Most importantly, 2010 witnessed the biggest change in the Golden Ball award. Before 2010, the football world had two noble individual awards: "European Golden Ball" voted by France Football magazine, and "Best Player of the Year" voted by FIFA.

In an effort to innovate, FIFA convinced France Football magazine to merge these two awards to create the "FIFA Golden Ball".

Instead of being elected by votes from reputable journalists around the world, the "FIFA Golden Ball" award records additional votes from captains and head coaches of national teams under FIFA.

Messi overwhelmed Sneijder because of this reason. Coaches and national team captains consider Messi an idol and massively voted for number 10 despite his disastrous World Cup season. Sneijder from the number 1 candidate for the Golden Ball was pushed to 4th, lower than both Iniesta and Xavi.

Messi won the 2010 Golden Ball in great controversy

When the results of the vote count were announced, it was confirmed that if only counting the votes from journalists around the world as before, Sneijder would be the owner of the Golden Ball.

This scandal started a series of endless controversies about the accuracy of the FIFA Golden Ball, which ended with France Football's decision to retire in 2016. This magazine decided to stop cooperating with FIFA and bring the Ballon d'Or. The European Golden Ball returns. It was that decision that brought Luka Modric to win the Golden Ball in 2018.

Sneijder retired in 2019, at the age of 35. Few people remember the Dutch number 10 finishing 4th in the 2010 Golden Ball race.

However, France Football's efforts could never bring justice to Sneijder. The Dutch midfielder did not enter the Golden Ball nomination list once after that. Messi won 4 more Golden Balls after 2010 to become the greatest owner of this award.

How would football change if Sneijder was honored in 2010 instead of Messi? Messi will only equal Cristiano Ronaldo in the number of Golden Balls. The two Dutch teams and Inter Milan were also worthy of gratitude.

But if is always just an if. Sneijder retired in 2019 with a peak not associated with any individual title. And Messi is forever the owner of the Golden Ball in 2010.

13 years have passed, the controversy about that year's story still exists, fans still regret Sneijder's fate and condemn Messi's unfair award.

But reality is harsh and cannot be placed after any if. Sneijder's injustice can therefore never be resolved.