The 2020 Ballon d'Or
For well over a decade, the Ballon d'Or has been controlled by the Ronaldo-Messi duopoly. Other than in 2018 when Luka Modric punctuated their dominance, the pair have won every edition of the award since 2008 with Messi edging out Ronaldo by six golden balls to five. It's safe to say, therefore, that it has not been marked by uncertainty. The same cannot be said for the 2020 edition of the prize, however.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on football is unprecedented. Hundreds of clubs face the prospect of extinction caused by the knock-on effects of the virus's effective closing down of society. While the financially elite clubs will survive, it still raises many questions about what football will look like when it emerges from the viral fog. The Ballon d'Or in particular has been marred by uncertainty.
The award which is given to the best player in world football at the end of each year is often influenced heavily by their performances at whatever international tournaments take place that year. The 2020 Copa America and the 2020 European Championships have, unfortunately, both been moved to the summer of 2021 and, therefore, those who cast their votes in the 2020 Ballon d'Or will not be able to take international performance into account.
Instead, they will have to make a judgement based only off club football. And even in that regard there is a huge degree of uncertainty as to when it will get going again. The Champions League is another major factor in determining the winner of the prize and it is unclear as to when - or if - that will get going again following its suspension in the middle of the Round-of-16 games earlier this year. The same goes for Europe's domestic leagues - all of them face problems in finding the time to complete their respective campaigns.
Players like Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Kevin de Bruyne will probably have to wait if they are to break Ronaldo and Messi's stranglehold on the award, therefore. If the prize was to be awarded today it would be a very close-run affair. Ronaldo has been in superb goalscoring form in Italy while Messi, as always, is leading the line brilliantly for Barca. But players like Sadio Mane and Vrigil Van Dijk would argue that they have been more influential for Liverpool. Whether they will be able to recapture their form upon the resumption of the beautiful game, who can say. Whoever the winner of the Ballon d'Or may be, always check out the best bookmakers to get the highest odds.