Cruel that Robert Lewandowski won't win Ballon d'Or even if he wins Champions League, proclaims Rio Ferdinand

Barring one year in the last dozen years, the Ballon d’Or has been dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi with the duo winning eleven between them. Messi lifted the 2019 award for a record sixth time while Ronaldo has five with Luka Modric winning the 2018 award. However, there will be no Ballon d’Or awarded for 2020, a decision that hasn’t gone down well with fans and critics across the world.

The decision comes after France Football announced that there was a “lack of sufficient fair conditions” to award the individual honour because of the coronavirus. Yet with Robert Lewandowski considered as the favourite to lift it after his unstoppable season in front of goal, Rio Ferdinand has claimed that is’ “a disgrace that they’ve taken it away”. The former Manchester United star also added that he believes that Lewandowski should start a petition because he deserves to lift the award this year.

"If I’m Lewandowski and they have cancelled the Ballon d’Or, I’m starting up a petition to get it back on.  Aside from the year when Luka Modric won it, Messi and Ronaldo have dominated that award for the last 12 years and Lewandowski has taken himself to the next level this season. I can’t believe they have cancelled it. It’s cruel, that is a good word to describe it," Ferdinand told TEAMtalk.

“Lewandowski deserves to win that award for what he has done this season and if he leads Bayern Munich to the Champions League and they still decide they won’t give it out to him, it’s not right. People say Ronaldo takes the award too seriously, but I’m not having that. What the award means to the history of the game, I think it’s a disgrace that they have taken it away for this year. Why can’t they give the award out, even if they don’t have a big ceremony to hand it over like they normally do? I think it’s really out of order.”